Apbil 28. 1855.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



323 



freedom;" "Deo parere, libertas est." Lipsius 

 bas the following note on this passage : 



"Dictum aureum, cui Philo consonat (de regno) ©«<(> 



Sov\eveiv, OVK eKev$epCas fxovov, aWa. KaX /SocriXeiaj afxeivov : 



Deo parere, non libertate solum, sed regno priestantius 

 est." 



C. F. P. 

 Normanton-on-Soar, Notts. 



Almanacs of 1849 and 1835. — 



" By a strange coincidence, which will not again occur 

 for a long time, this year commences on the same day as 

 in 1849, and consequently all through the year the date 

 will be on the same day. But what is more singular is, 

 that all the movable holidaj's from Septuagesima to 

 Advent fall on the same dates, and the same days. The 

 almanacs of 1849 might therefore serve for the present 

 year." 



w.w. 



Malta. 



ChapteV'Tiouse in York Cathedral. — Verses 

 descriptive of the chapter-house in York Cathe- 

 dral, taken from an old memorandum-book : 



" Ut rosa flos florum, 

 Sic est domus ista domorum." 



J. F. Fekguson. 



Dublin. 

 Saxon Plural in en. — 



_ " The old Saxon plural, made by affixing «i to the noun 

 singular, is very common in North Wiltshire; such as 

 wenchen, peasen, housen, &c. ; but such phraseology ap- 

 pears to be gradually giving way to the more unpleasant 

 s, by which we now form our plurals. Every person, 

 however, that attends to the euphony of our language 

 must admit, that the Saxon plural, if reinstated, would be 

 an improvement." 



So says Britton in his list of provincial words 

 used in Wiltshire and the adjacent counties, ap- 

 pended to his Topographical Sketches of North 

 Wiltshire, and we quite agree with him. It would 

 be so much the easier to introduce this improve- 

 ment, as the termination is almost every wliere 

 current among the uneducated classes, from whom 

 we need not disdain to borrow, in order to get rid, 

 if not yet too late, of the constant recurrence of 

 the spitting and spluttering s. Why have not we, 

 English, Scotch, and Irish, an academy like the 

 French for watching over, cultivating, and im- 

 proving our noble tongue, the language of Shak- 

 speare, of Milton, of Addison, of Burke, of Burns, 

 and of Scott ? We might at least have a professor 

 of English at each of our Universities. 



A Reformer, 



Anecdote of Cromwell. — Among the readers of 

 " N. & Q." some may be found who are acquainted 

 with the circumstance stated in the following 

 anecdote, which appears in old MS. (apparently 

 of or near the time of Oliver Cromwell) on a fly- 

 leaf of a copy of Galaker on the Nature and Use of 

 Lots, London, 1627, now before me. The story is 



curious and valuable, but may, perhaps, be already 

 well known. 



" Oliver Cromwell having some years before won 30Z. 

 of one Sir. Calton at play, meeting him accidentally he 

 desired him to come home with him, and to receive his 

 money, telling him that hee had got it of him by indirect 

 and unlawful! means, and that it would be a sin m him to 

 detain it any longer ; and did really pay the gentleman 

 the said thirty pounds back again." 



T. B. M. 



;^tn0r ^xxtxitA, 



Arabic Grammar. — What is the best intro- 

 ductory Arabic grammar for one totally un- 

 acquainted with Asiatic languages ? P. S. 



Gray, 1590. — 



"An Almanacke and Prognostication, made for the 

 yeere of our Lorde God mdxc. Rectified for the eleva- 

 tion and Meridian of Dorchester, serving most aptly for 

 the West Partes and generall_v for al England. By 

 Walter Gray, gentleman. Quod gratis grate. Imprinted 

 at London, by Richarde Watkins and James Robertes, 

 Cum privilegio Regise Maiestatis." 



Were different editions of this almanac issued, 

 adapted to different parts of England, as in this 

 case to " Dorchester and the West Parts ? " 



It is neatly printed in r2mo., for the most part 

 in a small well-cut black-letter type. At the 

 head of each month are given couplets of verses, of 

 which I copy those for January, as giving an un- 

 usual form for the word " icicle," in fact making 

 two words of it : 



" The fragrant shrubbe, and sproutyng tree. 

 Whence lately budde, and blossome sprange, 

 Both stemme with snow, and twigges (youe see) 

 With danglyng icesie cicles hang." 



And the lines for June, showing the high price at 

 which early cherries were valued : 



" When cocknies crazde by vayne delyght. 

 Naught serves so well to make all sounde, 

 As dayiitie chyrries, red and ripe : 

 Weil worthneare twentie groates a pounde." 



W. C. Treveltan. 



Higgledy Piggledy. — I am not satisfied with 

 Johnson's derivation of tliis from Higgle, "as 

 Higglers carry a huddle of provisions together." 



In a Latin book now before me. Vita Trium- 

 phans, &c., Amst. 1688, is the following passage : 



" Sed higlydi plglydi, quae apud Anglos quamvis sunt 

 nihil signiiicantia vocabula, sunt tamen Tecnica, a Scotis 

 ortum ducentia, quibus volunt exprimere Tantum quan- 

 tum." 



Can any of your readers throw light on this ? The 

 words cited form part of a good anecdote (in in- 

 different Latin) of our King James I., who is 

 described as using the phrase higgledy piggledy as 

 tantum quantum. T. B. M. 



