270 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 176 



(^Carpintis ostrya) ; Loranthus Europaus (Itself 

 a parasite) ; olive, vine, walnut, plum, common 

 laurel, medlar, grey poplar. The localities and 

 authorities are stated. 



In answer to your correspondent Ache, I may 

 add, that the opinion of recent botanists is con- 

 trary to Sir Thomas Browne's notion with refer- 

 ence to the propagation of the seed; for it is 

 known that the seeds, in germinating, send their 

 radicles into the plant to which they are attached ; 

 and grow afterwards as true parasites, selecting 

 certain chemical ingredients in preference to 

 others. The mistletoe has never been known to 

 grow In Ireland ; but its frequency in various 

 parts of the world — in France, Italy, Greece, and 

 parts of Asia — has been remarked by travellers. 

 Its use seems to be to provide food for birds 

 during those rare seasons of scarcity, when a very 

 sparing supply of other fruits and seeds can be 

 procured. Egbert Cooke. 



Scarborough. 



The Sizain (Vol. vi., p. 603. ; Vol. vil., p. 174.). 

 — I know not whether any one of the sizains 

 you have published may be the original, from 

 which all the others must be considered as imita- 

 tions or parodies ; but they bring to my mind an 

 English example, which I met with many years 

 ago in some book of miscellanies. I do not recol- 

 lect whether the book in question attributed it to 

 any particular author ; who, I presume, must have 

 been some staunch adherent for Protestant ascen- 

 dancy in the early part of the last century : 

 " Our three great enemies remember, 

 The Pope, the Devil, and the Pretender. 

 All wicked, damnable, and evil, 

 The Pope, the Pretender, and the Devil. 

 I wish them all hung on one rope, 

 The Devil, the Pretender, and the Pope." 



Since writing the foregoing, the following has 

 been dictated to me from recollection ; which may 

 be referred to about the period of George III.'s 

 last Illness : 



" You should send, if aught should all ye. 

 For Willis, Heberden, or Baillie. 

 All exceeding skilful men, 

 Baillie, Willis, Heberden, 

 Uncertain which most sure to kill is, 

 Baillie, Heberden, or Willis," 



M. H. 



Venda (Vol. vll., p. 179.). — This word, in 

 Portuguese, signifies a place where wine and meat 

 are sold by retail In a tavern. It also appears to 

 answer to the Spanish Venta, a road-side Inn ; 

 eomething between the French and English Inn, 

 and the Eastern caravansaries. In the places 

 which C. E. F. mentions, Venda In Portugal Is 

 like Osteria In Italy, of which plenty will be seen 

 on the plains of the Campagna at Rome. T. K. 



Meaning of "Assassin" (Vol. vil., p. 181.). — 

 We owe this word to the Crusaders, no doubt ; 

 but MuHAMMED wIU find a very interesting ac- 

 count of the word In the Rev. C. Trench's admir- 

 able little work On the Study of Words. See also 

 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, chap. Ixiv. ; to which, 

 If I remember rightly, Mr. Trench also refers, 



R. J. S. 



If MuHAMMED would take the trouble of looking 

 Into the translation of Von Hammer's Geschichte 

 der Assassinen, or, a more common book, The 

 Secret Societies of the Middle Ages, he would find 

 that there was " a nation of the assassins ;" and that 

 his idea of the derivation of the name, which was 

 first Indicated by De Sacy, is the received one. 



T.K. 



Dimidium Scientice (Vol. vil., p. 180.). — Mb. B. 

 B. Woodward will find Lord Bacon's sententia, 

 " Prudens interrogatlo quasi dimidium scientiae," 

 In his De Augmentis Scientiarum, lib. v. cap. ill., 

 " Partitlo Inventlvae Argumentorum In Promptu- 

 arlam et Toplcam." Bibuothecar. Chetham. 



Epigrams (Vol. vii., p. 175.), — The true ver- 

 sion of the epigram on Dr. Toe, which I heard or 

 read about fifty years ago, is as follows : 



" 'Twixt Footman John and Doctor Toe, 

 A rivalship befel, 

 Which should become the fav'rite beau, 

 And bear away the belle. 



" The Footman won the Lady's heart ; 

 And who can wonder ? No man : 

 The whole prevail'd against the part, — 

 'Twas Foot-maxi versus Toe-man." 



Perhaps the "John" ought to be "Thomas;" 

 for I find, on the same page of my Common-place 

 Book, the following : 



" Dear Lady, think it no reproach, 

 It show'd a generous mind. 

 To take poor Thomas in the coach. 

 Who rode before behind. 



"Dear Lady, think it no reproach. 

 It show'd you lov'd the more, 

 To take poor Thomas in the coach, 

 Who rode behind before. " 



SCEAPIANA. 



Use of Tohacco before the Discovery of America 

 (Vol. iv., p. 208.). — Sandys, in the year 1610, 

 mentions the use of tobacco as a custom recently 

 Introduced, at Constantinople, by the English. 

 (See Modern Traveller.^ Meyen, however, in his 

 Outlines of the Geography of Plants, as translated 

 for the Ray Society, says : 



" The consumption of tobacco in the Chinese empire 

 is of immense extent, and the practice seems to be of 

 great antiquity ; for on very old sculptures I have ob- 

 served the very same tobacco pipes which are still used. 



