Sept. 24. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



305 



to the whale, evidently to play with. The practice of 

 throwing a tub or barrel to a large fish, to divert the 

 animal from gambols dangerous to a vessel, is also 

 mentioned in an old prose translation of the Ship of 

 Fuuls. These passages satisfactorily explain the com- 

 mon phrase of throwing a tub to a whale," 



Sir James Macintosh conjectures that the phrase 

 "the tale of a tub" (which was fomiliarly known 

 in Sir Thomas More's time) had reference to the 

 tub thrown to the whale. C. H. Cooper. 



Cambridge. 



The Number Nine (Vol. viii., p. 149.). — The 

 property of numbers enunciated and illustrated by 

 Mb. Lammens resolves itself into two. 



1. If from any number above nine be subtracted 

 the number expressed by writing the same digits 

 backwards, the remainder is divisible by nine. 



2. If the number nine measure a given number, 

 it measures the sum of its digits. 



As the latter is proved in most elementary books 

 on Algebra, I confine my proof to the former. 

 Let the number in question be — 



ao + a^ . W + a^ . 10*+ . . .+ a„_i . lO""' 



Then 



+ a„ . 10,, 



«n + ««_i • 10 + a„_2 . 102+ .. +a, . 10"" + a,, . 10,j 

 is " the same number written backwards." The 

 difference is — 



ia^-a,) (10»-l) + («„_i-a,) (lO""--!) . 10+ . . 



+ (a — « iClO-— I) . \0i~ if n be even, but 

 1.- + 1 1-1^ 



+ (a^,—a ,VlO-l).IO^ if?ibeodd. 



And every term of this difference, as involving a 

 factor of the form (1 — 10"), is divisible by 9; and 

 therefore the difference is divisible by 9. 



C. Mansfield Inglebt. 

 Birmingham. 



The WiUingham Boy. — Abredonensis will find 

 full information on all the points he appears from 

 your Notices to Correspondents (Vol. viii., p. 66.) 

 to have inquired after in — 



" Prodigium Willinghamense, or Authentic Memoirs 

 of the Life of a Boy born at Willingham, near Cam- 

 bridge, with some Reflections on his Understanding, 

 Strength, Temper, Memory, Genius, and Knowledge, 

 by Thos. Dawkes, Surgeon." 



W.P. 



Unluchy Bays (Vol. vii., p. 232.). — The Latin 

 verses contained in the old Spanish breviary, ad- 

 verted to by W. PiNKERTON, bear a close resem- 

 blance to those which are to be found in the Red 

 Book of the Irish Exchequer. The latter form 

 part of a calendar which is supposed to have been 

 written either during the reign of John or 



Henry III. A similar calendar, with like verses, 

 has been printed by the Archseological Society, 

 Dublin. As the lines in the Red Book vary in 

 some respects from those which have appeared in 

 " N. & Q.," I have taken the liberty of inclosing 

 a transcript of them. 



" January. Prima dies mensis, et septima truncal ut 



ensis. 

 February. Quarta subit mortem, prosternit tertia 



fortem. 

 March. Primus mandantem, dirumpit quarta bl- 



bentem. 

 April. Denus et undenus, est mortis vulnere plenus. 

 May. Tertius occidit, et septimus bora relidlt. 

 June. Denus pallescit, quindenus federa nescit. 

 July, Terdecimus mactat, Julii denus labefactat. 

 August. Prima necat fortem, perditque secunda oho- 



ortem. 

 September. Tertia Septembris, et denus fert mala 



membris. 

 October. Tertia cum dena, clamat sit Integra vena. 

 November. Scorpius est quintus, et tertius est nece 



cinctus. 

 December. Septimus exanguis, virosus denus ut r.n- 



guis," 



James F. Ferguson. 

 Dublin. 



Rhymes on Places (Vol. vii. passim.'). — Midlo< 

 thian : 



" Musselboro' was a boro', 



Whan Edinboro' was nane ; 

 An Musselboro' '11 be a boro', 

 Whan Edinboro's gane." 



W. T. M. 

 Hong Kong. 



Cambridgeshire folks say, — 



" Hungry Hardwick, 

 Greedy Toft, 

 Hang-up Kingston, 

 Caldecott* naught." 



P. J. F. Gantillon, B. a. 



Quotation Wanted (Vol. vi., p. 421.). — See 

 Byron's Dream, stanza ii. v. 30. : 



" She was his life, 

 The ocean to the river of his thoughts." 



P. J. F. Gantillon, B. A. 



Lamech (Vol. vii., p. 432.). — For "Lamech," 

 see Mr. Browne's excellent Ordo Sceclorum, ch. vii. 

 § 302., 1844 — a book deserving to be much more 

 widely known. S. Z. Z. S. 



Muggers (Vol. viii., p. 34.). — The names mug- 

 gers and potters, betokening dealers in mugs and 

 pots, are, in the north of England, applied indis- 

 criminately to hawkers of earthenware, whether 

 of gipsy blood or not. Indeed, the majority are 

 evidently not gipsies. T. D. Ridlkt. 



* Pronounced Caiccote. 



