2°<» S. V. 125., May 22. '58.] 



NOTES AND QtJERIES. 



413 



other purpose, are such books, however lo^ the 

 price at which they may be published ? 



Warton pondered, for more than forty years, 

 over his delightful edition of Milton's Minor 

 Poems, and from eight to ten years over his notes 

 on Spenser s Fairy Queen. We manage such mat- 

 ters differently in these days : for some modern 

 editors think nothing of knocking off a poet a 

 month, and thus confirming the perfect correct- 

 ness of the adage, " The more haste, the worse 

 speed." A. 4. "iy. 



Minav ^atei, 



Dudley North. — I have recently become the 

 possessor of a very old Greek and Latin Lexicp^i, 

 date 1629. On the title-page is the autograph 

 "Dudley North Hig Booke, 1655." Is it pro- 

 bable that this is the Dudley Lord North, born in 

 1581, who espoused the Parliamentary cause ? 

 Should any of the descendants of the family care 

 to possess the above, I should feel much pleasure 

 in presenting it. 'W'. P. L. 



Liddell and Scotfs smaller Greek- JEnglish Lex- 

 icon. — The following words are omitted, unin- 

 tentionally without doubt, as the authorities 

 subjoined will show they are needed, even in a 

 Lexicon for school-boys. 



' EyKoXaTTTOi}, to cut in, engrave, chisel ; Hero- 

 dotus, i. 187. ; ii. 106. 136. ; y. 59. The Rev. J. 

 W. Blakesley (vol. ii. p. 329.) say? qj\ J' 4vrafjLvw 

 if Toiai MOoiffi ypdfXfj.aTa," — 



" Elsewhere the word eyKoXdirrm is usecj in the same 

 sense, i. 93. : kuC o-<^i ypdiiixara eveKeKoKaTrro, 187. : eveK6X.a\j/e 

 Si es Toy Ta.<t>ov ypdiJ.nq.Ta Keyoyra rdSe. The latter word is 

 found in the Septuagint (3 Maccab. ii. 27.) and elsewhere, 

 but the former is peculiar to Herodotus." 



Compare Lucian, Zeuxis, 1 1 . adjinem, iK4<pca/Ta 

 5e tJ.6vov i'yKo\d\\iai. Dio Cass. Ix. 6., fKelvri rfj arriiXri 

 ivfKSkai^ev. Plutarch, Pericles., 2\, 



n\r]y/j.a, a blow, stroke. 



.Sophocles, ^?i^2;g-0Ke, 250. 1283.; Track., 522. ; 

 Euripides, Troades, 789. (vol. i. p. 489. in Paley); 

 Iph. in Taur., 1366. 



_ n\r]KT6s also, which occurs, I fancy, several 

 times in the tragedians, is, with the other words, 

 wanting in all the successive editions of the 

 smaller Lexicon. F. J. L:pACHMAN. 



20. Compton Terrace, Islington. 



Birds doing good to Farmers. — There has been 

 much controversy lately on this subject, and the 

 truth seems to be this : — During the spring birds 

 do great good by killing insects on which they 

 feed themselves and their young ; but when the 

 corn is ripe in the ear, and ready to shed out, the 

 crowds of birds which flutter about on the tops of 

 the crops are said to beat out the grain in large 

 quantities, which falls on the ground and is wasted. 

 * oung birds should be killed down before harvest ; 



there will generally be enough left to breed in 

 the spring. The difference between thinning top 

 much, and being over-run, must be left to the dis- 

 cretion of the parties : in some parishes in the 

 sputh of England sparrow-clubs are formed once 

 in three years. Something {analogous may be said 

 as to rabbits. They do very little harm, if ^,ny, 

 except when the corn begins to form its stalk, 

 and when the green crops — as peas, tares, &c.— 

 begin to start ; then they do considerable damage. 

 They should, therefore, be killed down during 

 winter, a few only being left to breed. As they 

 do this three or four times in a year, a considerate 

 landlord will always have enough rabbits, without 

 injury to his tenants. A. A. 



Napoleon at Fault in the Red Sea ! — The author 

 of Marvels and Mysteries of Instinct illustrates the 

 superior sagacity exhibited by the swallow in its 

 migratory flight over new and unexplored re- 

 gions, by an anecdote of the Emperor Napoleon, 

 who, when in Egypt, had ridden out with some 

 mounted troopers for the purpose of exploring an 

 arm of the Red Sea, and while engaged in this 

 operation narrowly escaped by a sagacious and 

 well-timed manoeuvre the fate of an ancient ruler. 

 The reconnoitring party in the approiaching dark- 

 ness of night had lost their bearing ; and but for 

 the characteristic promptitude of their chief must 

 baye inevitably perished. At this critical moment, 

 Napoleon decided that for once a hollow circle 

 would serve him better than a hollow " square ; " 

 whereupon he ordered his troopers to form on him 

 as their ceqtre, with their horses' heads outwards, 

 and in this manner to ride straight ahead, ex- 

 tending their circumference as far as the depth 

 would! allow, each man "halting" at the point of 

 danger. The problem, which by no means pro- 

 mised to be a dry one, was, to the mathematical 

 eye of the great military tactician, one easy of 

 solution. The trooper that produced the greatest 

 radius was to ride on, and lead the way out 

 through the skallows ! F. Phillott. 



Sea Anemones. — Now that aquaria are all the 

 rage, it may not be uninteresting to those who 

 delight therein, to learn that a little more than a 

 hundred years ago the order Actinia was consi- 

 dered a great natural curiosity, and called " a 

 sensitive sea- plant." In the year 1754 a writer in 

 the Gentleman's Magazine informs its readers that 

 it is really an animal, describes its idiosyncracies, 

 and says it ought to be called the " sea polype." 



J. B. S. 



Monsieur Verein. — A short statement as to the 

 origin of this gentleman may perhaps save the 

 present or future Editor of " N. & Q." from the 

 fruitless inquiries of some reader anxious for in- 

 formation about foreign biography. In the last 

 number of TTie News of tke Churckes, May 1, 

 1858 (p. 126.), a certain village in Bavaria is 



