106 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 223. 



at the King's Arms, St. Paul's churchyard, in 

 1638. Is it remarkable for rarity or merit ? 



J. O. B. 

 Wicken. 



fflinav Quetiti Jutth ^ttrffoerrf. 



Canaletto"s Views round London. — Antonio 

 Canaletto, the painter of Venice, the destruction 

 of one of whose most powerful works has been of 

 late the subject of so much agitation, was here 

 amongst us in this city one hundred years since ; 

 as seen by his proposal in one of the journals of 



" Signior Canaletto gives notice that he has painted 

 Chelsea College, Ranelagh House, and the River 

 Thames ; which, if any gentleman, or others, are pleased 

 to favour him with seeing the same, he will attend at 

 his lodgings at Mr. Viggans, in Silver Street, Golden 

 Square, from fifteen days from this day, July 31, from 

 8 to 1, and from 3 to 6 at night, each day." 



Here is that able artist's offer in his own terms, if, 

 not his own words. 



I have to inquire, are these pictures left here to 

 the knowledge of your readers ? did he, in short, 

 find buyers as well as admirers ? or, if not, did he 

 return to Venice with those (no doubt) vividly 

 pictured recollections of our localities under his 

 arm ? Gondola. 



A Monster found at Maidstone. — In Kilburne's 

 Survey of Kent, 4to. 1659, under " Maidstone," is 

 the following passage : 



" Wat Tiler, that idol of clownes, and famous rebell 

 in the time of King Richard the Second, was of this 

 town; and in the year 1206 about this town was a 

 monster found stricken with lightning, with a head 

 like an asse, a belly like a man, and all other parts far 

 different from any known creature, but not approach- 

 able nigh unto, by reason of the stench thereof." 



No mention of this is made by Lambarde in his 

 Perambulation of Kent. Has this been traditional, 

 or whence is Kilburne's authority ? And what 

 explanation can be offered of the account ? 



H.W.D. 



Page. — What is the derivation of this word? 

 In the Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 

 edited by Dr. W. Smith, 1st edit., p. 679., it is 

 said to be from the Greek iratSaycaybs, pcedagogus. 

 But in an edition of Tacitus, with notes by Box- 

 horn (Amsterdam, 1662), it is curiously identified 

 with the word boy, and traced to an eastern 

 source thus: — Persian, bagoa; Polish, poko igo; 

 Old German, Pagie, Bagh, Bai; then the Welsh, 

 bachgen ; French, page ; English, boy ; and Greek, 

 ircus. 



Some of your correspondents may be able to 

 inform me which is correct. B. H. C. 



The Fis7i " Ruffins." — In Spenser's Faerie 

 Queene we read (book iv. canto 11.), among the 

 river guests that attended the nuptials of Thames 

 and Medway came " Yar, soft washing Norwitch 

 walls ; " and farther on, that he brought with him 

 a present of fish for the banquet called ruffins, 

 " whose like none else could show." Was this 

 description of fish peculiar to the Yare ? and is 

 there any record of its having been esteemed a 

 delicacy in Elizabeth's reign ? A. S. 



[This seems to be the fish noticed by Izaak Walton, 

 called the Ruffe, or Pope, " a fish," says he, " that is 

 not known in some rivers. He is much like the perch 

 for his shape, and taken to be better than the perch, 

 but will grow to be bigger than a gudgeon. He is an 

 excellent fish, no fish that swims is of a pleasanter taste, 

 and he is also excellent to enter a young angler, for 

 he is a greedy biter." In the Faerie Queene, book i. 

 canto iv., Spenser speaks of 



" His rufftn raiment all was stain'd with blood 

 Which he had spilt, and all to rags yrent." 



To these lines Mr. Todd has added a note, which gives 

 a clue to the meaning of the word. He says, " Mr. 

 Church here observes, that rufftn is reddish, from the 

 Latin rufus. I suspect, however, that the poet did 

 not intend to specify the colour of the dress, but rather 

 to give a very characteristical expression even to the 

 raiment of Wrath. Ruffin, so spelt, denoted a swash- 

 buckler, or, as we should say, a bully : see Minsheu's 

 Guide into Tongues. Besides, I find in My Ladies' 

 Looking- Glasse, by Barnabe Rich, 4to. 1616, p. 21., a 

 passage which may serve to strengthen my application 

 of ruffin, in this sense, to garment : " The yong 

 woman, that as well in her behaviour, as in the manner 

 of her apparell, is most ruffian like, is accounted the 

 most gallant wench." Now, it appears, that the ruff, 

 or pope, is not only, as Walton says, " a greedy biter," 

 but is extremely voracious in its disposition, and will 

 devour a minnow nearly as big as itself. Its average 

 length is from six to seven inches.] 



Origin of the Word Etiquette. — What is the 

 original meaning of the word etiquette ? and how 

 did it acquire that secondary meaning which it 

 bears in English ? S. C. G. 



[Etiquette, from the Fr. etiquette, Sp. etiqueta, a 

 ticket ; delivered not only, as Cotgrave says, for the 

 benefit and advantage of him that receives it, but also 

 entitling to place, to rank ; and thus applied to the 

 ceremonious observance of rank or place ; to ceremony. 

 Webster adds, " From the original sense of the word, 

 it may be inferred that it was formerly the custom to 

 deliver cards containing orders for regulating cere- 

 monies on public occasions."] 



Henri Quatre.— What was the title of Henry IV. 

 (of Navarre) to the crown of France ? or in what 

 way was he related to his predecessor ? If any 



