NOTES AND QUEllIES: 



A MEDIUM OF INTER-COMMUxNICATION 



roE 



LITERARY MEN, ARTISTS, ANTIQUARIES, GENEALOGISTS, ETC. 



"When found, make a note of." — Captain Cuttle. 



No. 36.1 



Saturday, Jult 6. 1850. 



f Price Threepence. 

 ( Stamped Edition ^d. 



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CONTENTS. Page 



Notes : — 



Further Notes on Derivation of the Word " News," by 



Samuel Hickson ------ 



More Borrowed Thoughts, by S. W. Singer 



Str.ingers in the House ol' Commons, by C. Ross 



Folk Lore: — High Spirits considered a Presage of im- 



peii'iing Calamity, by C Forbes - - - 



The Hydro-Incubator, by H. Kersley - - - 



Etymology of the Word ''Parliament" - . - 



" Inci'lis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdini," by 



C. Forbes and T. H. Friswell - - - - 



A Note of .Admiration ! - 

 The Earl of Norwich and his Son George Lord 



Goring, by CH. and Lord Braybrooke - - . 



Queries : — 



James Carkasse's Lucida Intervalla - - - 



Minor Qu-ries : — Epigrams on the Universities — 



Lammas Day— Mother Grey's Apples — Jewish Music 



— The Pianr " Haemony" — VeTitriloquism — Epigram 

 on Statue of French King — Lux fiat — Hirinj; of Ser- 

 vants — Book of Homilies — Collar of SS Rainbow 



— Passage ill Lucan^William of Wykeham — Richard 

 Baxter's Descendants — Passage in St. Peter — Juice- 

 cups — Derivation of " Yote " or *' Yeot " — Pedigree 

 of Greene Family — Family of Love— Sir Gammer 

 ^'ans ------ 



Replies: — 



Punishment of Death by Burning . - • 



To give a Man Horns, by C. Forbes and J. E. B. Mayor 

 Kepli s to Minor Queries : — Shipster — Three Dukes 



— Bishops and tl.eir Precedence — Why Moses re- 

 presented w th Hoins — Leicester and the reputed 

 Poisoners of his Time — Nrw Edition of Milton — 

 Christian Captives — Borrowed Tliouglus — North 

 Sides of Churchyards — Monastery — Chuiihyards — 

 Eiiitaphs — Umiirellas — English Translations of 

 Erasmus — Chantrey's Sleeping Children, &c. 



Miscellanies: — 



Separation of the Sexes in Time of Divine .Service — 

 Error in Winstanley's Loyal Martyrology — Preaching 

 in Nave only ..---. 



MiSCELLANEOLS: — 



Notes on Books. Sales, Caf.alngues, Sales, &c. 

 Books and Odd Volumes Wanted . . - 



Notices to Correspondents - - - - 



AdvertiseineuU ...... 



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FURTHER NOTES ON DERIVATION OF TUB WORD 



"Nr.WS." 

 AVitlioiit l)L'ing wliat the Gerinnns would cull a 

 purixt, 1 camiiit (Iikmii it an oliject of secoiulary 

 iiiij)<)rtanctj to ilef'end the principles of the law and 

 constitution of the Eiiglisli laiijruage. For tiie 

 adoption of words we have no rule ; and we act 

 just as our convenience or necessity dictates: but 

 in tlieir forni;iti()n we mnst strictly conform to the 

 laws we find cslahlished. Your correspondents 

 C. IJ. and A. E. ]{. (Vol.ii., [). 2.'5.) seem to me 

 strangely to miscunceive the real point at issue 



between us. To a question by the latter, -why I 

 should attempt to derive " News" indirectly from 

 a German adjective, I answer, because in its trans- 

 formation into a German noun declined as an 

 adjective, it gives the form which I contend no 

 English process will give. The rule your corre- 

 spondents deduce from this, neither of them, it 

 ajjpears, can understand. As I am not certain 

 that their deduction is a correct one, I beg to ex- 

 press it ill my own words as follows: — 1'here is 

 no such process known to the English language as 

 the formation of a noun-singular out of an adjec- 

 tive by the addition of "s" : neither is there any 

 process known by which a noun-plural can be 

 formed from an adjective, without the previous 

 formation of the singular in the same sense ; 

 except in such cases as " the rich, the ])oor, the 

 noble," &c., where the singular form is used in a 

 plural sense. C. B. instances "goods, the shallows, 

 blacks, for mourning, greens." To the first of 

 these I have already referred ; "shallow" is un- 

 questionably a noun-singular ; and to the remain- 

 ing instances the following remarks will apply. 



As it should be understood that my argument 

 applies solely to the English language, I think I 

 might fairly take exception to a string of instances 

 with which A. E. B. endeavours to refute me from 

 a vocabulary of a language very expressive, no 

 doubt, yet commonly called "slang." The words 

 in question are not English : I never use them 

 niyselti nor do I recognise the right or necessity 

 fin- any one else to do so ; and 1 might, indeed, 

 deem this a sulKcient answer. But the fact is 

 that the language in some degree is losing its in- 

 stincts, and liberties are taken with it now that 

 it would not have allowed in its younger days. 

 Have we not seen participial ailjectives made I'roiu 

 nouns? I shall therefore waive my objection, 

 and answer by saying that there is no analogy be- 

 tween the instances given and the case in point. 

 They are, one and all, elliptical expressions sig- 

 nifying "black clothes, green vegetables, tight 

 pantaloons, heavy dragoons, odd chant:es," &c. 

 " Blacks" and "whites" are not in point, the sin- 

 gular of either being quite as admissible as the 

 plural. The rule, if it be worth while to lay down 

 a rule for the Ibrmation of such vulgarisms, ap- 



VoL. IL— No. 36. 



