144 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 278. 



Derivation of " retract." — Trench On the Study 

 of Words, 4th edition, 1853. The learned writer 

 of this invaluable little book says, at p. 34. : 



" To retract means properh', as its derivation plainly 

 declares, no more than to handle over again, to reconsider 

 .... but has come to signify, as we commonly use 

 it, to withdraw." 



I would humbly submit that the latter is the 

 original and proper meaning of the word, as it is 

 derived from retraho-xi-ctum, to withdraw, and 

 not from retracto-avi-atum, to handle over again ; 

 or would not our verb have been retractate ? 



Johnson gives retract as from traho. The 

 London Encyclopcedia has retraction, act of with~ 

 drawing a declared opinion ; retractation, change 

 of declared opinion. Chris. Roberts. 



Bradford, Yorkshire. 



A Literal, Critical, Poetical Transcript from 

 Lloyd's : — 



" A Black and a White, with a Brown and a Green, 



And also a Grey at Lloyd's room may be seen ; 



With Parson and Clark, then a Bishop and Pryor, 



And Waters *, how strange, adding fuel to fire ; 



While at the same time, 'twill sure pass belief, 



There's a Winter, a Garland, Furse, Bud, and a Leaf; 



With Freshfield, and Greenhill, Lovegrove, and a Dale ; 



Though there's never a Breeze, there's always a Sale. 



No Music is there, though a Whistler and Harper ; 



There's a Blunt and a Sharp, many flats, but no sharper. 



There's a Daniell, a Samuel, a Sampson, an Abell ; 



The first and the last write at the same table. 



Then there's Virtue and Faith there, with Wylie and 

 Sasch, 



Disagreeing elsewhere, yet at Lloyd's never clash. 



There's a Long and a Short, Small, Little, and Fatt, 



With one Robert Dewar, who ne'er wears his hat. 



No drinking goes on, though there's Porter and Sack. 



Lots of Scotchmen there are, beginning with Mac ; 



McDonnald, to wit, Macintosh and McGhie, . 



McFarquhar, McKenzie, McAndrew, Mackie. 



An evangelised Jew, and an Infidel Quaker ; 



There's a Bunn and a Pye with a Cook and a Baker. 



Though no Tradesmen or Shopmen are found, yet here- 

 with 



Is a Taylor, a Saddler, a Paynter, a Smyth ; 



Also Butler and Chapman, with Baker and Glover 



Come up to Lloyd's room their bad risks to cover. 



Fox, Shepherd, Hart, Buck, likewise come every day ; 



And though many an ass, there is only one Bray. 



There's a Mill and Miller, A-dam and a Poole, 



A Constable, Sherifi', a Law, and a Rule, 



There's a Newman, a Niemann, a Redman, a Pitman, 



Now to rhyme with the last there is no other fit man. 



These, with Young, Cheap, and Lent, Luckie, Hastie, 

 and Slow, 



With dear Mr. Allnutt, AUfrey, and AulHjo, 



Are all the queer names that at Lloyd's I can show." 



I do not know whether you may deem the above 

 lines worthy of insertion in " N. & Q. ;" they were 

 written a few years since by a member of Lloyd's. 

 Some of the individuals named are now deceased, 



• These three were noted for religious disputes. 



but a frequenter of Lloyd's in former years will 

 recognise all the parties mentioned. N. V. H. 



Blackheath. 



Shipwrecks and Disasters at Sea. — Permit rae 

 to suggest that parties sailing to distant countries 

 should organise themselves into a committee before 

 the ship starts (the captain to be chairman), and 

 ascertain that she is well provided with all the 

 means of escape and safety, so far as human fore- 

 sight and cai*e can provide, in case of danger. It 

 is proved by too many melancholy instances, that 

 to trust to the captain's or the owner's forethought 

 and skill is not sufficient. Boreas. 



Genuine Rejected Addresses. — Allow me to sug- 

 gest, through the columns of " N. & Q.," the pub- 

 lication of the above, as a companion to the glo- 

 rious shilling's worth of humour lately re- issued. 

 P. J. F. Gantillon. 



Cutty-pipes. — Probably not many know, that 

 "cutty" is a corruption of Kutaieh, a city of Asia 

 Minor, N. E. of Smyrna ; where a species of soft 

 white stone is found, which is exported by the 

 Turks to Germany, for the manufacture of to- 

 bacco-pipes. B. H. C. 



Newspapers. — In a paper on " News," read by 

 C. Kemplay, Esq., before the Leeds Philosophical 

 Society, on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 1855, it was stated 

 that the oldest regular newspaper published in 

 England was established by Nathaniel Butter in 

 1662 ; the oldest in France, by Theophrastus 

 Renaudot in the time of Louis XIV., called the 

 Gazette de France, in 1632. The Engli.she Mer- 

 curic, now in MS. In the British Museum, Mr. 

 Kemplay stated to be now clearly established as a 

 forgery. R- Bowlbt. 



Headingley. 



Friar Bacon's Study. — The following lines, 

 found among Upcott's MSS., were written on 

 the intended demolition of Friar Bacon's study, 

 April 6, 1779 : 



" Roger ! if with thy magic glasses 

 Running, thou see'st below what passes, 

 As when on earth thou didst descry 

 With them the wonders of the sky — 

 Look down on these devoted walls ! 

 Oh ! save them — ere thy study falls ! 

 Or to thy votaries quick impart 

 The secret of thy mystic art • 

 Teach us, ere learning's quite forsaken, 

 To honour thee, and — save our Bacon ! " 



J. Yeowell. 



Early Disappearance of Publications. — Is it 

 generally known how soon publications of merely 

 temporary interest utterly disappear? I have 

 lately made great exertions to obtain a celestial 

 map, published about forty years ago ; a piece of 

 music published some twenty years; and a co- 



