56 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 142. 



" To lie at the Catch." — In the discourse between 

 Faithful and Talkative, in Bunyan's Pilgrim's 

 Progress, Talkative says, " You lie at the catch, I 

 perceive ; " to which Faithful replies, " No, not I : 

 I am only for setting things right." And again, in 

 the same conversation, Faithful says, "You lie at 

 the catch again. This is not for edification." Can 

 any of your readers kindly tell me what is the 

 meaning of the expression, to lie at the catch ? 



M.D. 



[In the Jerusalem Siniier Saved, Bunyan explains the 

 meaning of the phrase, where he refers to those who 

 are living in sin, and yet expect to be saved by grace. 

 " Of this sort are they that build up Zion with blood 

 snd Jerusalem with iniquity ; that judge for reward, 

 and teach for hire, and divine for money, and lean upon 

 the Lord. This is doing things with a high hand 

 against the Lord our God, and a taking Him as it were 

 at the catch ! This is, as we say among men, to seek 

 to put a trick upon God, as if He had not sufficiently 

 fortified His proposals of grace by His Holy Word 

 iigainst all such kind of fools as these."] 



Words printed in Italics in the Bible. — I may 

 be only showing my ignorance if I ask, Why are 

 numerous words printed in Italics in the Bible ? 



K. H. 



\_" With regard to the words in the Bible printed in 

 Italic characters. Dr. Myles Smyth, one of the two 

 appointed Revisers of the authorized version, in the 

 Preface to the first edition, published in 1611, gives 

 the following reason for their use : — 



" ' Moreouer, whereas the necessitie of the sentence 

 required any thing to be added (for such is the grace 

 and propriete of the Ebrewe and Greeke tongues that 

 t cannot, but either by circumlocution, or by adding 

 the verbe or some word, be vnderstood of them that are 

 not well practised therein), wee haue put it in the text 

 with an other kinde of letter, that it may easily bee 

 discerned from the common letter.'" — Savage's Z)2c- 

 iionary of Printing, p. 39.] 



JBays's Troops. — In a curious collection of 

 essays entitled Something New, London, 1772, 

 occurs the following passage. The essayist is 

 describing a case of reanimation : 



" For dead men, as it seems, may rise again, like 

 Bays's troops, or the savages in the Fantocini." 



Who was Bays, and what was the incident al- 

 luded to ? T. Sternberg. 



[Tlie allusion is to a scene in the Fifth Act of The 

 Heiiearsal, by G. Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, a. d. 

 1672, where "a battle is fought between foot and great 

 hobby-horses. At last Drawcansir comes in, and kills 

 'em all on both sides." Smith then gravely asks, — 



" But, Mr. Bayes, how shall all these dead men go 

 cff? for I see none alive to help them. 



"Bayes. Go off! why, as they came on ; upon their 

 Iigs : how should they go off"? Why, do you think 

 tie people do not know they are not dead?"] 



Courtier and learned Writer. — In an old devo- 

 tional work, entitled The Christians Dvfi/, pub.- 

 lished originally in 1730, and lately republished at 

 Rivingtons, 1 find the following passage at page 68. 

 of the older edition, and page 72. of the more recent 

 one: 



" Ah, my friends ! while we laugh all things arc- 

 serious roimd about us. God is serious, who exer- 

 ciseth patience towards us ; Christ is serious, who shed. 

 His blood for us ; the Holy Ghost is serious, who 

 striveth against the obstinacy of our hearts ; the Holy 

 Scriptures bring to cur ears the most serious things in 

 the world ; the Holy Sacraments represent the most 

 serious and awful matters; the whole creation is serious 

 in serving God and us ; all that are in heaven or hell 

 are serious ; how then can we be gay ? " 



The author, or, I should rather say, compiler of 

 the work which I first mentioned then proceeds in 

 the following terms : 



" To give these excellent words their full force (as a 

 learned writer says of them) it should be known that 

 they came not from the priesthood, but the court, and 

 from a courtier as eminent as England ever boasted." 



Perhaps some of yovu- numerous correspondents 

 can inform you, and, through you, myself and 

 some friends who are interested in the success of 

 the work, 1. Who " the courtier mentioned as the 

 author" was ? 2. Who the " learned writer" who 

 makes the remark was ? T. Bd. 



[The "learned writer" is Dr. Edward Young, author 

 of the Night Thoughts, who has quoted the passage in 

 his Sermon on " A True Estimate of Human Life," 

 Works, vol. V. p. 19., edit. 1774. The name of the 

 courtier is not given.] 



YANKEE AND YANICEE DOODLE. 



(Vol. iii., pp. 260. 437. 461.; Vol. iv., pp. 13. 344. 

 392.; Vol. v., pp. 80. 258.) 



There never was any difference of opinion in the 

 United States, among those who have paid any 

 attention to the subject, concerning the origin of 

 the word Yankee. It is believed to have been de- 

 rived from the manner in which the Indians en- 

 deavoured to pronounce the word English, which 

 they rendered Ycnghees, whence the word Yankee. 

 The statement in Irving's Kyiickerbocker's History 

 of New York, concerning the tribe of Yankoos, is a 

 mere joke : and the suggestion of your correspon- 

 dent R. H., in the present volume of " N. & Q.," 

 from the New York Gazetteer, that the Yankoos 

 were so indomitable that the Puritans of New 

 England, after subduing them, adopted their name, 

 according to an Indian custom which gave the 

 name of the conquered to the conquerors, is not 

 to be relied upon, as no history of New England 

 makes any mention of that redoubtable tribe ; nor 



