298 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 286. 



the purpose of magnifying her own danger, that 

 on the same day " the Clavaudier and three ser- 

 vants " of the Great St. Bernard's perished in the 

 snow. No such accident has occurred for many 

 years on the Great St. Bernard's. Alluding to 

 the good fare of the Simplon mbnks, the same lady 

 observes, " The abstemious rules seem to be sup- 

 pressed." Had this lady reached the Hospice on 

 a Friday or a Saturday, she would not have found 

 any animal food at the table. It is the custom to 

 observe both days as fast-days, and animal food is 

 not allowed even to the guests. This lady had 

 ascended from Breig, and she speaks of watching 

 the diligence from the windows of the Hospice 

 " winding slowly down the road along which we 

 had come." Every one who has visited the Sim- 

 plon knows, that the road towards Breig, as far as 

 it can be seen from the Hospice, is an ascent. The 

 compiler of the book also states, after mentioning 

 the burning of the Grimsel Hospice in 1852, that 

 the innkeeper had murdered several persons, and 

 that he had fired his house to prevent discovery. 

 The truth is, that the man had fired the house to 

 cheat an insurance company. The charge of 

 murder was a fabrication. The compiler of this 

 book should have ascertained the truth before he 

 ventured to put forth such a statement. 



I now turn to Mrs. Bray's Mountains and Lakes 

 of Switzerland. The tendency of this book is to 

 create difficulties. Alluding to a lady's account 

 of the Mer de Glace, she says, " When I heard of 

 the difficulties to be encountered, I was almost 

 afraid I should never be equal to an undertaking 

 of so laborious a nature." Yet the ascent is ac- 

 complished on a mule. When she actually comes 

 to the ascent, she says, she can assure Mr. Murray 

 that there was both danger and difficulty, and 

 that the path was "perilous in its appearance." 

 Then the descent to the Glacier from the Mon- 

 tauvert, she says, was one " of very great difficulty 

 and labour." She Innocently tells us that the 

 guide said " very few ladies got on as I did." 

 There is much more to the same effiict ; yet this 

 lady confined herself to the parts which are visited 

 by everybody. 



Now all this is simply ridiculous. It is absurd 

 to publish such statements. Hundreds of women 

 of all ages ascend the Montauvert every year; 

 and not a few accomplish the task on foot without 

 any difficulty. T. L. 



THE BlETHPIiACE OF WILLIAM COBBETT. 



Those of your correspondents who admire "pure 

 Saxon and short sentences," will forgive me for 

 saying a few words respecting the humble birth- 

 place of William Cobbett, than whom no one 

 drew more largely from the " well of English un- 

 defiled." 



In the little town of Farnham, in Surrey, stands 

 a roadside inn, with the sign of the " Jolly Farmer." 

 It is without beauty, it is hardly countrified ; 

 nevertheless it possesses great interest for the 

 tourist ; for here it was that Cobbett was born in 

 1762. On the sign-post appear his name, and the 

 dates of his birth and death. Doubtless the land- 

 lord finds this notice far more attractive than the 

 ordinary " neat wines, good entertainment for 

 man and beast." In the parlour is a cupboard, 

 with this inscription : 



" This cupboard was the property of the late William 

 Cobbett, Esq., M.P. for Oldham. He was bora 1762. 

 His great light was extinguished 1835." 



The good people of Farnham are justly proud of 

 their late fellow-townsman. They are delighted 

 to show his birthplace, and to descant on the 

 great powers of mind which distinguished him. 



Cobbett lies burled in the churchyard of his 

 native town. Close by the church door a plain stone 

 sets forth, that William Cobbett, one time. a ser- 

 geant-major in the king's army, who subsequently 

 obtained great fame as a political writer, and who 

 sat for Oldham in the first reformed parliament, 

 died at his farm called Nutwood, in the adjoining 

 parish of Ash, in 1835. Assuredly that modest 

 grave has closed over a thorough Englishman, 

 be his faults what they may. J. Viktue Wynne. 



1. Portland Terrace, Dalston. 



" Strain at a gnat" (Matt, xxiii. 24.). — Can any 

 of the learned readers of " N. & Q." tell when at 

 was substituted for out? Wiclitf's version is 

 " Clensenge a gnat," from the Lat. excolanter. 

 Tyndale, 1534, " Strayne out:" so Cranmer, 153& 

 (Geneva, 1557). The Rheims, 1582, has " straine 

 a gnat;" and our authorised, 1611 (see Bagster's 

 Hexapla), "straine at," from the Gr. Ot Siv\i^ovTes. 

 But there were intermediate translations to which 

 reference should be made to settle the point. 



In Eccles. xvli., the sixth verse appears to be 

 an interpolated verse. It is neither in the Sep- 

 tuagint nor in the Vulgate. Whence came it, and 

 when introduced into our version? The verse 

 runs thus : 



" They received the use of the Jive operations of the 

 Lord, and in the sixth place he imparted them under- 

 standing; and in the seventh speech, an interpreter of 

 the cogitations thereof." 



The verse seems to be supplemental, or a scholium 

 on the other verses. Are the five operations of 

 the Lord the five senses of man? If so, the 

 enumeration of the natural endowments of niaa 

 is pretty complete. Will any of your Biblical 

 scholars afford their assistance to clear up these 

 difficulties ? Q* 



Bloomsburv. 



