112 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 223. 



specimens of the tailless cats referred to by your 

 correspondent Shirley Hibberd. In the pure 

 breed there is not the slightest vestige of a tail, 

 and in the case of any intermixture with the 

 species possessing the usual caudal appendage, the 

 tail of their offspring, like the witch's " sark," as 

 recorded by honest Tarn o' Shanter, 



" In longitude is sorely scanty." 



In fact, it terminates abruptly at the length of a 

 few inches, as if amputated, having altogether a 

 very ludicrous appearance. G. Taylor. 



Reading. 



The breed of cats without tails is well known in 

 the Isle of Man, and accounted by the people of the 

 island one of its chief curiosities. These cats are 

 sought after by strangers : the natives call them 

 " Rumpies," or " Rumpy Cats." Their hind legs 

 are rather longer than those of cats with tails, and 

 give them a somewhat rabbit-like aspect, which 

 lias given rise to the odd fancy that they are the 

 descendants of a cross between a rabbit and cat. 

 They are good mousers. When a perfectly tail- 

 less cat is crossed with an ordinary-tailed indi- 

 vidual, the progeny exhibit all intermediate states 

 between tail and no tail. Edward Forbes. 



Warville (Vol. viii., p. 516.). — 



" Jacque Pierre Brissot was born on the 14th Jan., 

 1754, in the village of Ouarville, near Cliartres." — 

 Penny Cyclo. 



If your correspondent is a French scholar, he 

 will perceive that AVarville is, as nearly as pos- 

 sible, the proper pronunciation of the name of this 

 village, but that Brissot being merely the son of a 

 poor pastrycook, had no right whatever to the name, 

 which doubtless he bore merely as a distinction from 

 some other Brissot. It may interest }'our Ame- 

 rican friend to know, that he married Felicite 

 Dupont, a young lady of good family at'Boulogne. 

 A relation of my own, who was very intimate with 

 ber before her marriage, has often described her 

 to me as being of a very modest, retiring, religious 

 disposition, very clever with her pencil, and as 

 having received a first-rate education from mas- 

 ters in Paris. These gifts, natural and acquired, 

 made her a remarkable young person, amidst the 

 crowd of frivolous idlers who at that time formed 

 "good society," not only in Paris, but even in 

 provincial towns, of which Boulogne was not the 

 least gay. Perhaps he knows already that she 

 quickly followed her husband to the scaffold. Her 

 sister (I believe the only one) married a Parisian 

 gentleman named Aublay, and died at a great 

 age about ten years ago. N. J. A. 



Wis not a distinct letter in the French alpha- 

 bet ; it is simply double r, and is pronounced like 

 v, as in Wissant, Wimireux, Wimille, villages be- 



tween Calais and Boulogne, and Wassy in Cham- 

 pagne. \V. R. D. S. 



Green Eyes (Vol. viii., p. 407.). — The follow- 

 ing are quotations in favour of green eyes, in ad- 

 dition to Mr. II. Temple's : 



" An eagle, madam, 

 Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 5. 



And Dante, in Purgatory, canto xxxi., likens 

 Beatrice's eyes to emeralds : 



" Disser : fa clie le viste non risparmi : 

 Posto t' avem dinanzi agli smeraldi, 

 Ond' Amor gia ti trasse le sue armi." 



" Spare not thy vision. We have station'd thee 

 Before the emeralds*, whence Love, erewhile, 

 Hath drawn his weapons on thee." 



Cary's Translation. 



I think short-sightedness is an infirmity more 

 common among men of letters, authors, &c., than 

 any other class ; indeed, one is inclined to think 

 it is no rare accompaniment of talent. A few ce- 

 lebrated names occur to me who suffered weakness 

 of distinct vision to see but the better near. I 

 am sure your correspondents could add many to the 

 list. I mark them down at random : — Niebuhr, 

 Thomas Moore, Marie Antoinette, Gustavus 

 Adolphus, Herrick the poet, Dr. Johnson, Mar- 

 garet Fuller, Ossoli, Thiers, Quevedo. These are 

 but a few, but I will not lengthen the list at 

 present. M A S. 



Came (Vol. viii., p. 468.). — II. T. G. will find 

 this word to be as old as our language. Piers 

 Ploughman writes : 



" A cat 

 Cam whan hym liked." 



Vision, 1. 298. 



" A lovely lady 

 Cam doun from a castel." 



lb. 1. 466. 



Chaucer 



" Till that he came to Thebes." 



Cant. T. 1. 985. ' 



Gower 



" Thus (er he wiste) into a dale 

 He came." 



Conf. Am. b. i. fol. 9. p. 2. col. 1 . 



Q. 



" Epitaphium Lucretice " (Vol. viii., p. 563.). — 

 Allow me to send an answer to the Query of Bal- 

 liolensis, and to state that in that rather scarce 

 little book, Epigrammata ct Poematia Vetera, he 

 will find at page 68. that "Epitaphium Lucretise" 

 is ascribed to Modestus, perhaps the same person 

 who wrote a work de re militari. The version 



* Beatrice's eyes. 



