July 9. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



3^ 



mragraph in a popular periodical (The Leisure 

 Hour, No. 72.), I am desirous of learning upon 

 what authority the statements therein depend. 

 As, perhaps, it may also prove interesting to some 

 •of the readers of " N. & Q." who may not already 

 have seen it, and in the hope that some of your 

 contributors may be able to throw a light upon so 

 curious a subject, I herewith transcribe it : 



" Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire on Railway Travelling. 

 — Sir Isaac Newton wrote a work upon the prophet 

 Daniel, and another upon the book of Revelation, in 

 ■one of which he said that in order to fulfil certain pro- 

 phecies before a certain date was terminated, namely, 

 1260 years, there would be a mode of travelling of 

 which the men of his time had no conception ; nay, 

 that the knowledge of mankind would be so increased, 

 that they would be able to travel at the rate of fifty 

 miles an hour. Voltaire, who did not believe in the 

 inspiration of the scriptures, got hold of this, and said : 

 * Now look at that mighty mind of Newton, who dis- 

 covered gravity, and told us such marvels for us all to 

 admire. When he became an old man, and got into 

 his dotage, he began to study that book called the 

 Bible ; and it seems, that in order to credit its fabulous 

 nonsense, we must believe that the knowledge of man- 

 kind will be so increased that we shall be able to travel 

 at the rate of fifty miles an hour. The poor dotard !' 

 exclaimed the philosophic infidel Voltaire, in the self- 

 complacency of his pity. But who is the dotard now ? 

 — — Rev. J. Craig." 



The Query I would more particularly ask is 

 (presuming the accuracy of the assertions), What 

 is the prophecy so wonderfully fidfilled ? K. W. 



Tom ThumVs House at Gonerby, Lincolnshire. — 

 •On the south-west side of the tower of the church 

 of Great Gonerby, Lincolnshire, is a curious cor- 

 nice representing a house with a door in the 

 centre, an oriel window, &c., which is popularly 

 called " Tom Thumb's Castle." I have a small 

 engraving of it (" W. T. del, 1820, R. R. sculpt.") : 

 and a pencil states that on the same tower are 

 other " curious carvings." 



I would ask, therefore, Why carved ? From 

 what event or occasion ? For whom ? Why 

 called "Tom Thumb's House?" And what are 

 the other curious carvings ? G. Creed. 



Mr. Payne Collier's Monovolume Shakspeare. — 

 I should be extremely obliged to Mr. CoiiLiER, if 

 he would kindly give me a public reply to the fol- 

 lowing question. 



The express terms of the publication of his 

 monovolume edition of Shakspeare, as advertised, 

 were — 



" The text regulated by the old copies, and by the 



recently discovered folio of 1632." 



These terms manifestly exclude corrections from 

 any other source that those of collation of the old 

 copies, and the MS. corrections of the folio of 1632. 



Now the text of Mr. Collier's monovolum« 

 reprint contains many of the emendations of the 

 commentators not referred to in Notes and Emend- 

 ations. For example: in The Taming of the Shrew^ 

 where Biondello runs in to announce the coming 

 down the hill of the " ancient angel " (changed by 

 the corrector into ambler), two other alterations ia 

 the same sentence appear without explanation ia 

 the regulated text, namely, mercatante substituted 

 by Steevens for "marcantant" of the- folios; and^ 

 surely in lieu of " surly," which latter is the word 

 of the folio of 16S2. ^ ' 



I now ask Mr. Collier, on what authority Were- 

 these emendations adopted ? 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 



Birmingham. 



WILD PLANTS AND THEIR NAMES. 



(Vol. vii., pp. 175. 233.) 



Perhaps the following may prove of some use to 

 Enivri, in reply to his Query respecting the names 

 of certain wild flowers. 



1. Shepherd's Purse (Bursa pastoris). " Sic 

 diet, a foUiculis seminura, qui crumenulam referrei 

 videntur." Also called Poor Man's Parmacitty, 

 " Quia ad contuses et casu afflictos instar sper-- 

 matis ceti utile est." Also St. James's Wort, 

 " Quia cirea ejus festum florescit," July 28th. 

 Also called Pick-purse. 



2. Eye-bright, according to Skinner (Euphra- 

 sia), Teut. Augentrost ; " Oculorum solamen, quia 

 visum exlmie acuit." Fluellin (Veronica femina)., 

 "Forte a Leolino aliquo Cambro-Brit. ejus inven- 

 tore." 



3. Pass Wort, or Palsy Wort (Primula veris). 

 " Herba paralyseos." 



4. Guelder Rose (Sambucus rosea). " Quia ex . 

 Gueldria hue translata est." Gueldria is, or rather 

 was, a colony, founded by the Hollanders, on the 

 coast of Coromandel. 



5. Ladies' Tresses, a corruption of traces. A, 

 kind of orchis, and used, with its various appel- 

 lations, " sensu obsc." 



6. The Kentish term Gazel is not improbably 

 the same as Gale, which, Skinner says, is from the 

 A.-S. Gagel (Myrtus brabantica). 



7. Stitch Wort (Gramen leucanthemum, alias • 

 Holostium pumilum). " Sic diet, quia ad dolores 

 laterum punctorios multum prodesse creditur." 



8. The term Knappert, for Bitter Vetch, is pro- 

 bably a corruption of Knap Wort, the first syl- 

 lable of which, as in Knap Weed and Knap Bottle, 

 is derived from the sound or snap emitted by it 

 when struck in the hollow of the hand. 



9. Charlock (Rapmn sylvestre) ; Anglo- Saxou 

 Cerlice. 



