Sept. 14. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



251 



Mr. Hickson : and the following citations will, I 

 think, pi-ove the point as effectually for the passage 

 of Measure for Measure : 



1. " Fine apparition." — Tempest, Act i. sc. 2. 



2. " Spirit, ^ne spirit." — Ditto. 



3. " Delicate AneL" — Ditto. 



4. " And, for thou wast a spirit too delicate. 



To act her eartliy and abhorred commands." 



Ditto. 



5. " F/hb Ariel." — Ditto. 



6. " Jly dtlicate Ariel." — Ditto. Act iv. sc. 1. 



7. " Why that's my dainty Ariel." — Ditto. Act v. 

 sc. 1. 



I do not know the precise nature of the " old 

 authorities " which Mr. Singer opposes to my 

 conjecture : but may we not demur to the conclu- 

 siveness of any "old authorities" on such a point? 

 Etymology seems to be one of the developing 

 sciences, in which we know more, and better, than 

 our forefathers, as our descendants will know more, 

 and better, than we do. 



To end with a brace of queries. Are not delicite, 

 delicatus, more probaljly from deligere than from 

 delicere ? And whence comes the word dainty ? 

 I cannot believe in the derivation from dens, " a 

 tooth." B. H. Kennedy. 



AEROSTATION. 



Your correspondent C. B. M. (Vol. ii., p. 199.) 

 will find a long article on Aerostation in Bees' 

 Cyclopaedia ; but his inquiry reminds me of a con- 

 versation I had witli the late Sir Anthony Carlisle, 

 about a year before his death. He wished to con- 

 sult me on the subject of Hying by mechanical 

 means, and that I should assist him in some of his 

 arrangements. He had devoted many years of his 

 life to the consideration of this subject, and made 

 numerous experiments at great cost, which induced 

 him to believe in the possibility of enabling man 

 to fly by means of artilicial wings. However 

 visionary this idea might be, he had collected in- 

 numerable and extremely interesting data, having 

 examined the anatomical structure of ahnost every 

 winged thing in the creation, and compared the 

 Weight oi' tlie Ijody with the area of the wings 

 when expanded in the act of volitation ; as well 

 as tlie natural habits of birds, insects, bats, and 

 fisiies, with reference to their powers of flying and 

 duration of flight. ' 



These notes would form a valuable addition to 

 natural liistory, wliatcver might be thought of the 

 purjwse for which they were collected, during a 

 period of thirty years; and it is much to be re- 

 gretted tiioy were never ])ubiisheil. J lis own 

 opinion was, that the publication, duiing his life, 

 Would injure his pi-actice as a i)hysician. It wouhl 

 be impossible without, the aid of diagrams, and I 

 do not remember sulficicnt, to ex])lain his nieclia- 

 nical contrivances ; but the general principle was, 



to suspend the man under a kind of flat parachute 

 of extremely thin feather-edge boards, with a power 

 of adjusting the angle at which it was placed, and 

 allowing the man the full use of his arms and legs 

 to work any machinery placed beneath ; the area 

 of the parachute being proportioned, as in birds, 

 to the weight of the man, who was to start from 

 the top of a high tower, or some elevated position, 

 flying against the wind. Henry Wllkinson. 



Brompton. 



3RcpItc^ ta iBiwav caunici*. 



Long Lonldn (Vol. ii.,p. 168.). — If Seletjcus will 

 refer to JNIr. Chamber's Collection of Scottish Ballads, 

 he will find there the whole story under the name 

 of Lammilsin, of which Lonkin appears to me to 

 be a corruption. In the 6lh verse it is rendered : 

 " He said to his ladye fair, 

 Before he gaed abuird, 

 Beware, beware o' Lammilsin ! 

 For he lyeth in the wudde." 



Then the story goes on to state that Lammilsin 

 crept in at a little shot window, and after some 

 conversation with the "fause noun-ice" they de- 

 cide to 



" Stab the babe, and make it cry, 

 And that will bring her down." 



Which being done, they murder the unhappy lad}'. 

 Shortly after. Lord Weirie comes home, and has 

 the " fause nourrice" burnt at the stake. From 

 the circumstance thatthenameof tLehusbandof the 

 murdered lady was Weirie, it is conjectured that this 

 tragedy took place at Balwearie Castle, in Fife, 

 and the old jjeople about there constantly affirm 

 that it really occurred. I am not aware that there 

 exists any connection between the hero of this 

 story and the nursery rhyme; for, as I before stated, 

 I think Lonkin a corruption of Lammilsin. 



II. H. C. 



JRoivlej/ Poicley (Vol. ii., p. 74.). — Andre Val- 

 ladier, who died about the middle of the sixteenth 

 century, was a popular preacher and tlie king's 

 almoner. He gained great ajiplause for his funeral 

 oration on Henry IV. In his sermon for the 

 second Sunday in Lent (Rouen, 1628), he says: — 



" Le paon est gentil et miste, bien que par la par- 

 faite lieaute de sa houppc, par la raretc et noblesse de 

 sa teste, par la gentilcsse et ncttete de son cou, par 

 rornement do scs peiincs ct par la majeste de tout le 

 reste de son corps, il ravit tous ceux qui le contem- 

 plent attentivement ; toutofois au rencontre de sa fc- 

 melle, pour I'attirer a son amour, il df'ploye sa poinpe, 

 fait montrer et parade de son pluTuagi- l)izarre, ct 

 Rioi.i.K rioi.i.K se preseiite a ellc avec piaCe, et lay domie 

 la phis belle visce de sa roue. De mesme ce Dieu ad- 

 mirii!)le, amoreux des hommcs, ]>our nous ravir d'amour 

 a soy, dcsploye le lustre de scs plus accomplies heautez, 

 ct commu uii amant transporte de sa bienainiLc se 



