Nov. 26. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



523 



of persons being employed, another puts his spoke 

 in, and assists or hinders them as he pleases. Can 

 a stick be considered a spoke before it is put into 

 its place, in the nave of the wheel at least ? We 

 often hear the observation, " Then I put in my 

 spoke," &c. in the relation of an animated discus- 

 sion. May I venture to suggest a pun on the 

 preterite of the verb to speak ? 



G. William Sktring, 



Pagoda (Vol. viii., p. 401.). — May not the 

 word pagoda be a corruption of the Sanscrit word 

 " Bhagovata," sacred ? Bishop of Brechin. 



Dundee, 



Passage in Virgil (Vol. viii., p. 270.). — On this 

 part of Johnson's letter, Mr. Croker observes : 



" I confess I do not see the object, nor indeed the 

 meaning, of this allusion." 



The allusion is to Eclogue viii. 43. : 



•'Nunc scio, quid sit Amor: duris in cotibus ilium 

 Aut Tmarus, aut Rhodope, aut extremi Garamantes, 

 Nee generis nostri puerum nee sanguinis, edunt." 



As the shepherd in Virgil had found Love to be 

 not the gentle being he expected, but of a savage 

 race — "a native of the rocks " — so had Johnson 

 found a patron to be " one who looked with un- 

 concern on a man struggling for life," instead of a 

 friend to render assistance. 



Supposing Johnson's estimate of Lord Chester- 

 field's conduct to be correct, I cannot help think- 

 ing the allusion to be eminently happy. 



J. Kelwat. 



To speak in Lutestring (Vol. viii., p. 202.). — 

 Lutestring, or lustring, is a particular kind of silk, 

 and so is taffeta ; and thus the phrase may be 

 explained by Shakspeare's Love's Labour's Lost, 

 Act V. Sc. 8. : 



" Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise." 



Junius intended to ridicule such kind of affectation 

 by persons who were, or ought to have been, grave 

 senators. J. Kelway. 



Dog Latin (Vol. viii., p. 218.). — A facetious 

 friend, alluding particularly to law Latin with its 

 curious abbreviations, says that it is so called be- 

 cause it is cur-tailed ! J. Kelway. 



Longevity (Vol. viii., p. 113.). — I recollect 

 seeing an old sailor in the town of Larne, county 

 Antrim, Ii-eland, in the year 1826-27, of tlie name 

 of Philip Lake, aged 110, who was said to have 

 been a cabin boy in Lord Anson's vessel, in one 

 of his voyages. If any of your correspondents 

 can furnish the registry of his death it would be 

 interesting. Fras. Cbossley. 



Mary Simondson, familiarly known as "Aunt 

 Polly," died recently at her cottage near Ship- 



pensburg, Pennsylvania, at the advanced age of 

 126 years. M. E. 



Philadelphia. 



Definition of a Proverb (Vol. viii., p. 243.). — 

 C. M. Ingleby inquires the source of the follow- 

 ing definition of a proverb, viz. " The wisdom of 

 many, and the wit of one." 



•' To Lord John Russell are we indebted for that 

 admirable definition of a proverb : ' The wisdom,' &c." — 

 See Notes to Rogers's Italy, 1848. 



The date is added since, in an edition of 1842 ; 

 this remark makes no part of the note on the line, 

 " If but a sinew vibrate," &c. Q. T. 



Ireland a bastinadoed Elephant (Vol. viii., 

 p. 366.). — I venture to suggest whether this ex- 

 pression may not be something more than a bull, 

 as 2SK. inclines to call it. If any one will look at 

 a physical map of Ireland at some little distance, a 

 very slight exercise of the "mind's eye" will serve 

 to call up in the figure of that island the shape of 

 a creature kneeling and in pain. Lough Foyle 

 forms the eye ; the coast from Bengore Head to 

 Benmore Head the nose or snout ; Belfast Lough 

 the mouth ; the coast below Donaghdee the chin ; 

 County Wexford the knees. The rest of the 

 outline, according to the imagination of the ob- 

 server, may assume that of an elephant, or some- 

 thing, perhaps, " very like a whale." Some 

 fanciful observation of this kind may have sug- 

 gested the otherwise unaccountable simile to 

 Curran. Polonius. 



Ennui (Vol. vii., p. 478. ; Vol. viii., p. 377.). — 

 The meaning of this admirable word is best 

 gleaned from its root, viz. nuit. It is somewhat 

 equivalent to the Greek kypvirvia, and signifies the 

 sense of weariness with doing nothing. It gives 

 the lie to the dolce far niente : vide Ps. cxxx. 6., 

 and Job vii. 3, 4. Ennui is closely allied to our 

 annoy or annoyance, through noceo, noxa, and their 

 probable root uox, vvi,. It is precisely equivalent 

 to the Latin tcedium, which may be derived from 

 ta:da, which in the plural means a torch, and 

 through that word may have a side reference to 

 night, the tcedarum horoe : cf. Ps. xci. 5. The sub- 

 ject is worthy of strict inquiry on the part of com- 

 parative philologists. C. Mansfield Ingleby. 



Birmingham. 



Belle Sauvage (Vol. viii., p. 388.). — Your 

 Philadelphian correspondent asks whether Blue 

 Bell, Blue Anchor, &c., are corruptions of some 

 other emblem, such as that which in London trans- 

 formed La Belle Sauvage into the Bell Savage. 



This is not the f:ict. The Bell Savage on Lud- 

 gate Hill was originally kept by one Isabella 

 Savage. A cotemporary historian, writing of one 

 of the leaders in a rebellion in the days of Queen 



