276 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 48. 



with his son's name, he roared out, — ' Dog, are you 

 here?' And, hrandishing the hroken oar, he rushed 

 forward to strike him on the head. Bice uttered a 

 cry, Ottorino was quick in warding off the blow ; in 

 a minute, Lupo, the falconer, and the boatmen, dis- 

 armed the frantic man ; who, striking his forehead with 

 both hands, gave a spring, and threw himself into the 

 lake. 



" He was seen fighting with the angry waves, over- 

 coming them with a strength and a courage whicli 

 desperation alone can give." — Marco Ficonti, vol. i. 

 chap. 5. 



IV. A passage that has probably ah-early oc- 

 curreil to the uiiiid of the reailer, Mucklebackit 

 mending the coble in which his son had been 

 lost : 



" ' There is a curse either on me or on tliis auld black 

 bitch of a boat, that I have hauled up high and dry, 

 and pitched and clouted sae mony years, that she miglit 

 drown my poor Steenle at the end of them, an' be 

 d — d to her 1' And he fliuig his hammer against the 

 boat, as if she had been the intentional cause of his 

 misfortune " — Antiquary, vol. ii. chap. 13. Cadell, 1829. 



V. " Giton pra.>cipue, ex dulore in rnbiem effcrntns, 

 tollit clamorem, me, utraque manu impulsum, pra;ci- 

 pitat super lectum." — Petron. Arb. Sat. cap. 94. 



The classical reader will at once recognise the 

 force of the words " rabiem," " eiferatus," " pras- 

 cipitat," in this passage. The expression "utraque 

 manu" may not at first sight arrest his attention. 

 It seems always used to express the most intense 

 eagerness ; see 



" Injecit utramque lacinice manum." — Pet. Arb. 

 Sat. 14. 



"Utraque manu Deorum beneficia tractat." — lb. 

 140. 



" Upon which Menedemus, incensed at his insolence, 

 answered, — 'Nothing is more necessary than the pre- 

 servation of Lucullus ;' and thrust him back with both 

 hands." — Plutarch, hife of Lucullus. 



" Women have a sort of natural tendency to cross 

 their husbands : they lay hold wilh both hands [a deux 

 mains] on all occa'iions to contradict and oppose them, 

 and the first excuse serves for a plenary justification.' — 

 Montaigne, Essriys, book 2. chap. 8. 



" Marmont, deceived by the seemingly careless win- 

 ter attitude of the allies, left Ciudad Rodrigo unpro- 

 tected within their reacli ; and Wellington jumped with 

 both feet upon the devoted fortress." — Napier, Pen. 

 War, vol. iv. p. 374. 



Any apology for the unwarrantable length of 

 this discursive despatch, would, of course, only 

 make matters worse. C. Fokbes. 



Temple. 



ETYMOLOGICAL NOTES. 



1. Gmitch. — "The covetous man dares not 

 gnatch" (Iliiinmond's Catechism). From tliis, and 

 the examples in IlalliweH's Dictionary., the sense 

 seems to, be" to move." Is it related to "gnake ?" 



2. Pei't. — - 1 lately met with an instance of the 

 use of this word in the etymological sense pe?-i/ti)i : 

 " I beant peart at making button-holes," said a 

 needlewoman. 



3. Rococo. — A far-fetched etymology suggests 

 itself. A wealthy noble from the north might ex- 

 press his admiration lor the luxuries of Faris by 



the Russian word p'lCKO?J0,i,, or Polish roskosz. 

 A Frenchman, catching the sound, might apply it 

 to anything extravagant enough to astonish a bar- 

 barian. 



4. Cad. — The letters from Scotland ascribed 

 to a Captain Burtt, employed in surveying the for- 

 feited estates, give an account of the " cawdics," 

 or errand boys, of Edinburgh. 



5. Fun, perhaps Irish, fonamhad, jeering, 

 mockery (Lhuyd, Archaologia Britannica'). 



6. Bunibailiff. — The Frencli have pousse-cul, for 

 the follower or assistant to the sergeant. 



7. JSpei-gne ; perhaps epargne, a save-all or 

 hold-all. There seems no more difficulty in the 

 transfer of the name than in that of chiffonier, 

 from a rag-basket to a piece of ornamenttd fur- 

 niture. 



8. Doggrel. — Has the word any connexion 

 with sdrucciolo f 



9. Derrick. — A spar arranged to form an ex- 

 tempore crane. I think Derrick was the name of 

 an executioner. 



10. il/ece, A.-S., a knife. The word is found in 

 the Sclavonic and Tartar dialects. I think I re- 

 member sonic years ago reading in a newspaper of 

 rioters armed with " pea makes." I do not re- 

 member any other instance of its use in English. 



F.Q. 



MISTAKES IN GIBBON. 



The following references may be of use to a 

 future editor of Gibbon ; Mr. Milman has not, I 

 believe, rectified any of the mistakes pointed out 

 by the authors cited. 



"In the Netherlands ... 50,000 in less th.in fifty 

 years were .... sacrificed to the intolerance of popery. 

 ( Fra Paolo, Sarpi Cone. Trid. 1. i. p. 422. ed. sec. 

 Grotiiis, in his Annal. Belt/. I. v. pp. 10, 17. duod., in- 

 cluding alt the persecutions of Charles V , makes the 

 number 100,000. The supposed contradiction between 

 these two historians supplied Mr. Gibbon with an 

 argument by which he satisfied himself that he had 

 completely demolished the whole credibility of Euse- 

 bius's history. See conclusion of his 16th book.)" 

 [Mendham's Life of Pius V., p. 303. and note; com- 

 pare p. 252., where Gibbon's attack on Eusebius is 

 discussed.] 



In Forster's Sfahometanism Unveiled, several of 

 Gibbon's statements are ([uestioned. I have not 

 the book at hand, and did not think the correc- 

 tions very important when I read it some time 



