64 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 194. 



with three names by a term opprobrious among 

 the Romans : " Homines trium literarum." C. 



Hogarth's Pictures (Vol. vii. passim). — One of 

 the correspondents of " N. & Q." inquires where 

 he could see some pictures from this great artist. 

 May I ask if he is aware of the three very fine 

 large paintings in the Church of St. Mary, Red- 

 cliffe, Bristol? which I am told will shortly be 

 sold. Bbistouensis. 



P.S. — They were painted for the church, and 

 the vestry holds his autograph receipt for the pay- 

 ment of them. 



OldFogip. (Vol. vii., pp. 354. 559. 632.).— Whe- 

 ther the origin of this term be Irish, Scotch, or 

 Swedish I know not ; but I cannot help stating 

 the significant meaning which, as an Edinburgh 

 boy at the beginning of the century, I was taught 

 to attach to it. P^very High-School boy agreed in 

 applying it to the veterans of the Castle garrison, 

 to the soldiers of the Town Guard (veterans also, 

 and especial foes of my school-mates), and more 

 generally to any old and objectionable gentleman, 

 civil or military. It implied that, like stones which 

 have ceased to roll, they had obtained the pro- 

 verbial covering of moss, or, as it is called in Scot- 

 land (probably in Ireland also),/t>^. I have heard 

 in Scotland the " Moss Hose " called the " Fogie 

 Rose ;" and there is a well-known species of the 

 humble bee which has its nest in a mossy bank, 

 and is itself clothed with a moss-like covering : its 

 name among the Scottish peasantry is the fogie 

 bee. G. J. F. 



Colton. 



Clem (Vol. vii., p. 615.). — Mr. Keightley 

 considers this word to mean press or restrain, and 

 quotes three passages from Massinger and Jonson 

 in support of his opinion ; admitting, however, 

 that it is usually rendered starve. Now, whatever 

 may have been the root of this word, or whence- 

 soever it may have been derived, I think it must 

 be admitted that starve is the correct meaning of 

 the word in these passages. Let the reader test it 

 by substituting starve for clem in each case. In 

 Cheshire and Lancashire the word is in common 

 use to this day, and invariably means starved for 

 want of food. Of a thin, emaciated child it is 

 said, " His mother clems him." A person exceed- 

 ingly hungry says, " I'm welly clem'd ; I'm almost 

 or well-nigh starved." It is the ordinary appeal of 

 a beggar in the streets, when asking for food. 



Edw. Hawkins. 



Kissing Hands (Vol. vii., p. 595.). — Cape will 

 find in Suetonius that Caligula's hands were kissed. 



C. 



Uniform of the Foot Guards (Vol. vii., p. 595.). 

 — In answer to D. N., as to where he can see uni- 



forms of the Foot Guards, 1660 to 1670, I have to 

 refer him to the Orderly-room, Horse Guards, 

 where he will see the costume of the three regi- 

 ments since they were raised. In Mackinnon's 

 History of the Coldstream Guards, he will find 

 that regiment's dress from the year 1650 to 1840. 



CD. 



Book Inscriptions (Vol. vii., p. 455.). — At the 

 end of No. 1801. Harl. MSS. is the following : 



" Hie liber est seriptus, 

 Qui scripsit sit benedictus. 

 Qui scriptoris manum 

 Culpat, basiat anum." 



In the printed catalogue there is this note : 



" Neotricus quidam hos scripsit versiculos, ex alio 

 forsan Codice depromptos." 



CO. (p. 



I have not seen the following amongst your de- 

 precatory rhymes. It may come in with another 

 batch. The nature of the punishment is somewhat 

 different from that usually selected, and savours of 

 Spain : 



" Si quisquis furetur 

 This little libellum, 

 Per Phoebum, per Jovem, 



I'll kill him, I'll fell him ! 

 In ventum illius 



I'll stick my scalpellum, 

 And teach him to steal 

 My little libellum." 



RuBl. 



In a Gesner's Thesaurus I have the following 

 label of the date 1762 : 



" Ex Caroli Ferd. Hommelii Bibliotheca. 



" Intra quatuordecim dies comodatum ni reddl- 

 deris, neq' belle custodieris, alio tempore, Non habeo, 

 dicam." 



L. 



Humbug (Vol. vii., pp. 550. 631.). — I do not 

 remember any earlier use of this word than in 

 Fielding's Amelia, 1751. Its origin is involved in 

 obscurity : but may it not be a corruption of the 

 Latin ambages, or the singular ablative ambage ? 

 which signifies quibbling, subterfuge, and that kind 

 of conduct which is generally supposed to consti- 

 tute humbug. It is very possible that it may have 

 been pedantically introduced in the seventeenth 

 century. May, in his translation of Lucan, uses 

 the word ambages as an English word. 



H. T. RiLEr. 



A severe instance of the use of the term 

 "humbug" occurred in a court of justice. A 

 female in giving her evidence repeatedly used 

 this term. In her severe cross-examination, the 

 counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person) ob- 

 served she had frequently used the term humbug, 

 and desired to know what she meant by it, and to 



