Aug. 14. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUEBIES. 



143 



lie lilies his ivhack ("his whack" corrupted 

 form of his " sweg " or " swack," Scotch = quan- 

 tity). 



Tanner, sixpence (from Gypsy taiono, little ; or 

 Ij&i.tener). 



That's the ticket (corruption of " that is eti- 

 quette," or what is proper and required). 



Cheat, cozen, though not now considered as 

 slang words, were so originally. (" Cheat," me- 

 • taphov from the legal term " chetes, " from escheat ; 

 and " cozen " metaphor for cousin, as the gamblers 

 of the sixteenth century called all the uninitiated 

 '*' cousins," and treated them as of their kin, in 

 order to fleece them.) See Use of Dice Play, 

 pp. 17. 2G. 



In conclusion, the phrase "going the whole 

 liog " is by some said to be tiiken from the Irish 

 shilling. I should like to know why it was so 

 called : did it ever bear the impress of a swinish 

 animal ? and hence derived, like " pecunia " from 

 2^ecu, or the slang tex'm " dragons " for sovereigns. 



Thomas Lawbekce. 



Ashb v-de-la- Zouch. 



INEDITED LETTERS OF NELSOK. 



A friend of mine has the following letter framed 



and hanging by the side of a portrait of the great 



sailor. With his permission I have sent it to 



"!N. & Q." for preservation. H. G. D. 



« Vang'i at Sea, Aug. 28"' 1798. 



" Sir, 



" I have just received, thro' the hands of my 



agent, a letter of yours of , respecting a 



Genoese vessel, which I am requii-ed to bring be- 

 fore the Judge of the Court of Admiralty, &c. As 

 I have never been informed that the Judge of the 

 High Court of Admiralty had any authority over 

 my political conduct as an oflicer, of course I did 

 not consider it my duty to inform him of it. If 

 the Judge has that right, I shall, of course, be 

 ready to answer any question he may put to me ; 

 in the meantime I believe it is sufficient to say, 

 that my conduct respecting Genoa, and the seizing 

 of their vessels, has received the approbation of 

 the King, through Lord Grenville, and my Lords 

 Commissioners of the Admiralty, to whom only I 

 Lave hitherto felt myself bound to render an 

 account of my conduct. 



" I am, Sir, 

 " Your most obedient servant, 

 "HoBATio Nelson." 



Perceiving by your "Notices to Correspondents" 

 that inedited letters of Nelson are acceptable to 

 you, I send you one that I transcribed from the 

 Additional MSS. (No. 17,024.) in the British 

 JMuseum, some months since, and which I cannot 

 •find anywhere published. It seems to have been 

 purchased by the Trustees in 1847, on the 27 th of 



July, of "VV. G. Davis, Esq. Allow me to add 

 that I have several more inedited letters tran- 

 scribed for you, if you like to have them : one of 

 them is from Finch the antiquary, and contains 

 some interesting remarks on some coins which 

 had been submitted to him. One of these epistles 

 is very amusing, as letters from " hard up" gentle- 

 men usually are. It is written by James Moleer. 

 But I must not occupy more space. 



Kenneth R. H. IMackenzie, 



" Sir, 



" Dec^ 8. 1800, London. 



" I have received your letter of the 5th, con- 

 veying the great honour Intended me by the city 

 of New Sarum. I beg. Sir, that you will assure 

 the Mayor and Corporation how sensible I ani 

 of their kindness towards me, and that I shall 

 have great pleasure in receiving the freedom in 

 the Council Chamber, or wheresoever else they 

 may please to appoint. 



"I am, Sir, with 



" Great respect, 

 " Your most obedient servant, 



" Nelson. 

 " John Hodding, Esq. 



" The time of my going thro' Salisbury is very- 

 uncertain, no time being yet absolutely fixd [sic], 

 but of which I will take care you shall be 

 apprized." 



passage in LTfCIDAS. 



On lately renewing my acquaintance with the 

 First Eclogue of Sannazarius, I came upon a pas- 

 sage which seemed rather a good illustration of 

 Milton's meaning in a part of Lycidas which 

 Thomas Warton has confused : 



" At til sive ahum felix colis aithera, sou jam 

 Elysios inter manes, coetusque verendos 

 Lethasos sequeris ])er stagna liquentia pisces, 

 Seu legis asternos formoso pollice flores, 

 Narcissumque, croeumque, et vivaceis amaranthos, 

 Et violis teneras misces pallentibus algas : 

 Adspiee nos, mitisque veni : tu numen aquarum 



Semper eris, semper Icetum piscantibus omen." 



0pp. p. 56. Amstela;dami, 1728, 8vo. 



The line in Milton is this : 



"Look homeward, angel, now, and melt with ruth." 



Lycidas, 163. 



For my part I feel quite convinced that Thomas 

 Warton is wrong In supposing that " angel " meant 

 " the great vision of the guarded mount," the 

 archangel Michael, and not Lycidas himself, trans- 

 lated by death to a higher state of purity and 

 blessedness in another world. Milton had beea 

 preparing a " laureat verse " for his Lycidas ia 

 some lines of deep beauty, which remind one 

 strongly of Vida; 



