2'«i S. N« 110., Feb. 6. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



119 



On Language (2""^ S. v. 69.)— The allusion is 

 to the number of roots, not to the number of 

 words formed from them : the latter are numerous, 

 especially among the more civilised nations. The 

 number of roots in any language is represented by 

 Adelung, in the preface to Mithridates, to vary 

 from 200 to 600. 



The flexibility of the organs of articulation in 

 young persons enables them readily to imitate 

 the sounds they hear. The variety of sounds in the 

 Russian language enables the Russians in advanced 

 age to pronounce the European and Asiatic tongues 

 accurately, when#an Englishman, a Frenchman, 

 or German, would find accuracy impossible. After 

 the powers of articulation have become fixed by 

 constant use, great difficulty arises in any attempt 

 to acquire new sounds. Even the Spanish and 

 German Jew, although reading with the same 

 vowel points and accents, vary in pronunciation. 

 Neither can express n (th) : the one calling it 

 t, the other s. T. J, Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Bidl Baiting (2"^ S. iv. 351.) — There is a ring 

 inserted in the pavement nearly in the centre of 

 the market-place of this town (Hedon), which was 

 used in bygone days for the baiting of bulls. This 

 was not altogether a cruel pastime, as your corre- 

 spondent supposes, but a fulfilling of the law, as it 

 was required before a butcher could offer bull-beef 

 for sale that the animal should be previously baited. 



B. H. 



OM French Argot (2"'^ S. v. 69.) — 



1. Bouvsiev, a poor scholar. " Bursarii .... 

 quae vox etiamnum obtinet in Academiarum pub- 

 licarum scholasticis, quibus ob rei domesticas pau- 

 periem certa quaidam stipendia exsolvuntur ex 

 area ad id destinata, ad peragendos studiorum 

 cursus .... Vulgo Boursiers, qui idcirco de- 

 meurer en bourse dicuutur." 



2. Plumet, a beardless youth, sometimes a scape- 

 grace, a young scamp. " GarQon plumet videtur 

 ille, cui lanugo nascitur. ' Laquelle femme dist^ 

 a Jehan de Fer qu'il estoit ung garson Plumet.' " 



" Gargon plumet, Jeune etourdi, qui n'a que 

 du poil follet." 



(The above extracts are from Du Cange and 

 his editoi's.) 



3. Tirelaine, a stealer of cloaks (by snatching, 

 like the London wig-stealers of the last century). 

 "Tire-laine, s. m. S'est dit, comme Tireur de 

 laine, pour Voleur de Manteaux." — Bescherelle. 



" Tireur de laine. Se disait autrefois d'un filou 

 qui volait les manteaux pendant la nuite." — lb. 



Thomas Boys. 



University Boohs (2"'* S. ili. 31.) — The entrance 

 books of Trinity College, Dublin, are not open to 

 the inspection of the j)ublic. A certified extract 

 from them can be obtained, but at a charge of IDs. 

 The first entrance of which there is any record 



is that of William Wentworth, Esq., Nobilis, 

 eldest son of Thomas Viscount Wentworth, born 

 at Wentworth Woodhouse, Yorkshire, June 6, 

 1625 ; entered T. D. C. as a Fellow Commoner, 

 Jan. 12, 1637-8, being then eleven years, seven 

 months, and four days old. 



All records of entrances for the preceding 

 sixty years have disappeared. As a favour, the 

 Senior Lecturer sometimes permits the books to 

 be examined. The first book, 1637 to 1725, has 

 an Index. The book from 1758, to 1769 has 

 been lost within the last forty years. It is said, I 

 know not with what truth, that the late Rev. Dr. 

 Prior, Vice Provost, was the culprit. The Uni- 

 versity books, contradistinguished from those of 

 the College, are open, as I understand, to the 

 public, free of charge. Y. S. M. 



Jews forbidden to read Ezechiel (2"* S. v. 88.) 

 — The injunction does not apply specially to the 

 vision in the first chapter, but to the whole pro- 

 phecy ,- for as portions of this book (xviii. 20.) are 

 in terms apparently contradictory to the law 

 (Exod. XX. 5.), the Jew who from five years of 

 age was instructed in the Pentateuch, and other 

 portions of the Old Testament, was enjoined not 

 to read Ezechiel till he had attained his thirtieth 

 year, and, consequently, after he had become well 

 grounded in the law (Jerome's Proleg. to Eze- 

 chiel), and was likely to be better able to under- 

 stand a book of such acknowledged moral and 

 archaaological difficulty. See Calmet, Adam Clarke, 

 Bagster's Family Bible, The Pictorial Bible, and 

 Penny Cyclopcedia. T. J. Buckton. 



Lichfield. 



Longevity, and the Transmission of Knowledge 

 through few Links (2""* S. ii.'483. ; iii. 13.) — I 

 know a gentleman in Dublin : he is not sixty years 

 old ; but singular to say, his father, who died in 

 1817, was born in 1724, and fought for Charles 

 Edward under his relative the Duke of Perth at 

 Preston Pans and at CuUoden. The sword he 

 used on those occasions is in his son's possession ; 

 he is the younger son of a second marriage, and 

 he told me lately that one of his brothers, " the 

 sickly one of the family" was over eighty years of 

 age. Y. S. M. 



Bandon Inscription (2°'^ S. iv. 126.) — Bandon 

 Bridge was a very exclusive Protestant borough, 

 and I have often heard of the inscription over one 

 of its gates quoted by your correspondent. It is 

 said that one fine morning the following lines 

 were found written underneath the others : — 



" Whoever wrote this, wrote it full well, 

 For the same is written on the gates of Hell." 



Talking of wall-inscriptions, I am reminded of 

 an amusing instance. 

 About fourteen or fifteen years since, the re- 



