26 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 193. 



nem. (Vid. Scliilteri, Thes., vol. iii. ad voc.) And 

 here we cannot help noticing the similarity between 

 these words and the Hebrew "^^^^ which (as well 

 as the Coptic iai's) means primarily a river or 

 stream from a spring ; but, according to Professor 

 Lee, is allied to ")'"){<, light, the enlightenment of 

 the mind, the opening of the eyes ; and he adds, 

 " the application of the term to water, as running, 

 translucid, &c., is easy." Here, then, is a similar 

 connexion of ideas with a change in the metaphor. 



In the dialects which descended from the Teu- 

 tonic in the Saxon branch, the connexion between 

 these two distinct objects is also singularly pre- 

 served. It is to be found in the Low German, 

 the Friesic, and the Anglo-Saxon. In the latter 

 we have ed, eah, eagor, a welling, flowing stream ; 

 and eah, cegh, eage, an eye, which might be abun- 

 dantly illustrated. 



We could hardly fail to find in Shakspeare some 

 allusion to these connected images in the old 

 tongue ; no speck of beauty could exist and es- 

 cape his ken. Thus : 



" In that respect, too, like a loving child, 

 Shed yet some small drops from thy tender spring, 

 Because kind Nature doth require it so." 



Tit. And., Act V. Sc. 3. 

 " Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring ; 

 Your tributary drops belong to woe, 

 Which you, mistaking, offer up for joy." 



Bom. and Jul., Act III. Sc. 2. 



Many of the phrases of the ancient tongues, in 

 which the eye bears a part, have been handed 

 down to us, and are still preserved in our own. 

 My space, however, forbids me to do more than 

 allude to them; but there is one very forcible 

 expression in the Hebrew VV'2, V]}, literally, eye in 

 eye, which we render much less forcibly — face to 

 face. The Welsh have preserved it exactly in 

 their llygad yn llygud. Indeed, this is not the 

 only instance in which they are proud of having 

 handed down the Hebrew idiom in all its purity. 

 Shakspeare twice uses the old phrase : 



" Since then my office hath so far prevailed, 

 That face to face, and royal eye to eye, 

 You have congreeted." — Hen, V., Act V. Sc. 2. 



And in Tro. and Cres., Act III. Sc. 3 ; but it ap- 

 pears now to be obsolete. 



Before concluding, I cannot help noticing, in 

 connexion with this subject, the Old English term 

 " the apple of the eye." I am unable to trace it 

 beyond the Anglo-Saxon. The Teutonic sehandes 

 ougen, pupilla oculi, is totally distinct ; seha being 

 merely medius punctus octdi, whence sehan, vide?'e. 

 In the Semitic languages, as well as in the Greek 

 and Latin, the origin of the term is the same, and 

 gives no clue to the meaning of the Saxon term. 

 Thus, in the Hebrew m% dim. of ^^N, homun- 

 culus, the small image of a person seen in the eye. 



In Arabic it is the man or daughter of the eye. In 

 Greek we have ko^tj, Kopdaiov, Kopaai^ov ; and in 

 Latin, pupa, pupula, pupilla. 



Has any light been thrown on the Anglo-Saxon 

 term ? Can it be that iris, not the pupil, is taken 

 to represent an apple ? The pupil itself would 

 then be the eye of the apple of the eye. 



H. C. K. 



Rectory, Hereford. 



GOSSIPING HISTORY DE QXIINCEY S ACCOUNX OF 



HATFIELD. 



In proof of 'the severity with which the laws 

 against forgery were enforced, I have been re- 

 fei-red to the case of Hatfield, hanged in 1803 for 

 forging franks. It is given very fully in Mr. De 

 Quincey's "Literary Recollections of Colerid;2,e" 

 in the first volume of the Boston edition of his 

 Works. 



The story has some romance in it, and excited 

 great interest fifty years ago. Hatfield had lived 

 by swindling ; and, though he underwent an im- 

 prisonment for debt, had, upon the whole, a long 

 career of success. The last scene of his depreda- 

 tions was the Lakes, where he married a barmaid, 

 who was called " The Beauty of Buttermere." 

 Shortly after the marriage he was arrested, tried, 

 and executed. Mr. De Quincey afterwards lived 

 in the neighbourhood, dined at the public-house 

 kept by Mary's father, and was waited upon by 

 her. He had the fullest opportunities of getting 

 correct information : and his version of the story 

 is so truthlike, that I should have accepted it 

 without hesitation but for the hanging for forging 

 a frank. As that offence never was cnpital, and 

 was made a felony punishable with transportation 

 for seven years by 42 Geo. III. c. 63., I was im- 

 pelled to compare the statement founded on gossip 

 with more formal accounts ; and I send the result 

 in illustration of the small reliance which is to be 

 placed on tradition in such matters. The arrival 

 of Hatfield in a carriage is graphically described. 

 He called himself the Hon. Augustus Hope, brother 

 of the Earl of Hopetoun. Some doubts were felt 

 at first, but — 



" To remove suspicion, he not only received letters 

 addressed to him under this assumed name, but he 

 continually franked letters by that name. Now, that 

 being a capital offence, being not only a forgery, but (as 

 a forgery on the Post-office) sure to be prosecuted, 

 nobody presumed to question his pretensions any longer ; 

 and henceforward he went to all places with the con- 

 sideration due to an earl's brother." — P. 196. 



The marriage with Mary Robinson, and the 

 way in which they passed the honeymoon, are 

 described : 



" They continued to move backwards and forwards, 

 until at length, with the startling of a thunderclap to the 



