Dec. 10. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



57S 



the third finger of the right hand of the Blessed 

 Virgin iii Raffiielle's " Sposalizio " at Milan, and 

 In Ghirlandais's frescoe of tlie same subject in the 

 Santa Croce at Florence, is to be found in the 

 fact that the right hand has always been con- 

 sidered the hand of power or dignity, and the left 

 hand of inferiority or subjection. A married 

 woman always wears her ring on the third finger 

 of the left hand to signify her subjection to her 

 husband. But it has been customary among 

 artists to represent the Blessed Virgin with the 

 ring on the right hand, to signify her superiority 

 to St. Joseph from her surpassing dignity of Mo- 

 ther of God. Still she is not always represented 

 so, for in Beato Angelico's painting of the marriage 

 of Mary and Joseph she receives the ring on her 

 left hand. See woodcut in Mrs. Jameson's Le- 

 gends of Madonna, p. 170. In the Marriage of 

 the Blessed Virgin by Vanloo, in the Louvre, she 

 also receives the ring on the left hand. Giotto, 

 Taddeo Gaddi, Perugino, &c., have painted the 

 "Sposalizio," but I have not copies by me to 

 refer to. Ceyrep. 



Early Use of Tin. — Derivation of the Name 

 of Britain (Vol. viii., pp. 290. 344. 445.). —Your 

 correspondent G. W. having been unable to inform 

 Dr. Hincks who first suggested the derivati(m of 

 Britannia from Baratanac or Bratanac, I have 

 the pleasure to satisfy him on this point by re- 

 ferring him to Bochart's Geographia Sacra, lib. i. 

 c. xxxix. In that great storehouse of histjrical 

 information, the Memoirs of the Academy of In- 

 scriptions and Belles-Lettres, there are some pro- 

 found researches by Melot and others, in which 

 may be found answers to all the Queries proposed 

 by G. W. 



The islands, rivers, mountains, cities, and re- 

 markable places of Phoenician colonies, had even 

 in the time of the habitation of the Greeks and 

 Romans Phoenician names, which, according to 

 the spirit of the ancient languages of the East, 

 indicated clearly the properties of the places 

 which bore those names. See instances in Bochart, 

 ubi supra ; Sammes's Britannia Antiqua Illustrata, 

 or the A ntiquities of Ancient Britain derived from 

 the Phoenicians; and D'Hancarville's Preface to 

 Hamilton's Etruscan, 8fc. Antiquities. 



B1BL10THEC.4.R. Chetham. 



Unpublished Epigram by Sir Walter Scott 

 (Vol. vii., pp. 498. 576.). — The following extract 

 is from the Gentleman's Magazine, March, 1824, 

 p. 194. : 



" Mr. J. Lawrence of Somers Town observes : ' In 

 the summer of the year 1770 I was on a visit at Beau- 

 mont Hall on the coast of Essex, a few miles distant 

 from Harwich. It was then the residence of Mr. Can- 

 ham. ... I was invited to ascend the attics in order 

 to read some lines, imprinted by a cowboy of preco- 

 cious intellect. I found these in handsome, neatly 



executed letters, printed and burnished with leaf-gold, 

 on the wall of bis sleeping-room. They were really- 

 golden verses, and may well be styled Pythagorean 

 from their point, to wit : 



' Earth goes upon the earth, glittering like gold; 

 Earth goes to the earth sooner than 'twould ; 

 Earth built upon the earth castles and towers; 

 Earth said to the Earth, All shall be ours.' 



The curiosity of these lines so forcibly impressed them 

 on my memory, that time has not been able to efface a 

 tittle of them. But from what source did the boy obtain 

 them 9 " 



Permit me to repeat this Query ? J.R. M., M.A. 



Derivation of the Word " Humbug " (Vol. viii. 

 passim). — Not being satisfied with any of the 

 derivations of this word hitherto proposed in your 

 pages, I beg to suggest that perhaps it may be 

 traced to a famous dancing master who flourished 

 about the time when the word first came into use. 

 The following advertisement appeared in the 

 Dublin FreemarCs Jourruil in Jan. 1777 : 



" To the NohiUty. 

 " As Monsieur Humbog does not intend for the 

 future teaching abroad after 4 o'clock, he, at the request 

 of his scholars, has opened an academy for young ladies 

 of fashion to practise minuets and cotillions. He had 

 his first asseml)ly on Friday last, and intends continuing 

 them every Friday durirg the winter. He does not 

 admit any gentlemen, and his number of ladies is 

 limited to 32; and as Mrs. Humbog is very conversant 

 in the business of the Toilet Table, the ladies may 

 depend on being properly accommodated. Mr. Humbog 

 having been solicited by several gentlemen, be intends 

 likewise to open an academy for them, and begs that 

 those who clmse to become subscribers will be so good 

 as to send him their addresses, that he may have the 

 honour of waiting upon them to inform them of his 

 terms and days. Mr. Humbog has an afternoon 

 school three times a week for little ladies and gentle- 

 men not exceeding 14 years of age. Terms of his 

 school are one guinea per month and one guinea 

 entrance. Any ladies who are desirous of knowing 

 the terms of his academy may be informed by appoint- 

 ing Mr. Humbog to wait upon them, which he will do 

 on the shortest notice. Capel St. 21 Jan. 1777." 



Omicron. 



Bees (Vol. viii., p. 440.). — In the midland 

 counties the first migration of the season is o 

 swarm, the second a cast, and the third a spindle. 



Erica. 



Topsy Turoy (Vol. viii., p. 385.). — I have 

 always understood this to be a corruption of 

 " Topside t'other way," and I still think so. 



Wm. Hazel. 



Parish Clerks and Politics (Vol. viii., p. 56.). — 

 In the excitement prevalent at the trial of Queen 

 Caroline, I remember a choir, in a village not a 

 hundred miles from Wallingford, Berks, singing 



