Nov. 2. 1850.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



377 



The point is this, Is it inflected, or, does it em- 

 ploy affixes, or is it absolutely without inflections 

 and affixes ? 



If the first, it cannot be " totally opposite " to 

 the Sanscrit : if the second, it cannot be " totally 

 different" from Syriac and Arabic: if the third, it 

 cannot have " rude inflections." J. E. 



Oxford, October 23. 1850. 



Cheshire Cat. — Will some of your correspon- 

 dents explain the origin of the phrase, " grinning 

 like a Cheshire cat?" The ingenious theory of 

 somebody, I forget who, that Cheshire is a county 

 palatine, and that the cats, when they think of it, 

 are so tickled that they can't help grinning, is not 

 quite satisfactory to K. I. P. B. T. 



Mrs. Partington. — Where may I find the ori- 

 ginal Mrs. Partington, whose roalti'eatnient of the 

 Queen's English maketh the newspapers so witty 

 and merry in these dull days ? Ignoeans. 



Cognation of the Jews and Lacedemonians. — 

 In the 12th chapter of the 1st Book of Maccabees 

 the letter of Jonathan, the High Priest, to the 

 Lacedemonians is given, in which he claims their 

 amity. This is followed by a letter of Arcus, the 

 Spartan king, in answer, and which contains this 

 assertion ; 



" It is found in writing that the Lacedemonians and 

 Jews are brethren, and that they are of the stock of 

 Abraham." 



Have critics or ethnographers commented on 

 this passage, which, to say the least, is remarkable? 



As I am quoting from the Apocrypha, I may 

 point out the anomaly of these books being omitted 

 in the great majority of our Bibles, whilst their 

 instructive lessons are appointed to be read by 

 the Church. Hundreds of persons who maintain 

 tiie good custom of reading tiie proper lessons for 

 the day, are by tiiis omission deprived, during the 

 present season, of two chapters out of the four 

 appointed. Manleius. 



iieplte^. 



FAIRFAX S TEANSLATION OF TASSO. 



On referring to my memoranda, I find that the 

 copy of Fairfax's translation of the Gerusaleiame 

 Liberutu of Tasso, containing the third variation 

 of the first stanza, noticed in my last, has the two 

 earliest pages reprinted, in order tiiat the altera- 

 tion uiiglit he more com|i[ete, and tliat the substi- 

 tuti(jn, by p:iisting one stanza over anotlier (as the 

 book is usually met with) might not l>e detected. 

 A copy witli tlie rei)rinted leaf is, I a[)|ireiiend, 

 still in tiie library of tlie late ^Villianl Wordsworth ; 

 and during tlie last twenty years 1 have never 

 been able to |)rocure, or even to see, another with 

 the same peculiarity. 



The course with the translator was, no doubt, 

 this : he first printed his book as the stanza appears 

 under the pasted slip ; this version he saw reason 

 to dislike, and then he had the slip printed with 

 the variation, and pasted over some copies not yet 

 issued. Again he was dissatisfied, and thinking 

 he could improve, not only upon the first stanza, 

 but upon "The Argument" by which it was pre- 

 ceded, he procured the two pages to be reprinted. 

 It is, however, by no means clear to me that, after 

 all, Fairfax liked his third experiment better than 

 his two others: had he liked it better, we should, 

 most probiibly, have found it in more copies than 

 the single one I have pointed out. 



As your readers and contributors may wish to 

 see " The Argument " and first stanza as they are 

 given in Mr. Wordsworth's exemplar, I transcribe 

 them from my note-book, because, before I gave 

 the book away, I took care to cof)y them exactly : — 



" THE ARGUMENT. 



" God sends his angell to Tortosa downe : 

 Godfrey to counsell cals the Christian Peeres, 

 Where all the Lords and Princes of renowne 

 Chuse him their general : he straight appeeres 

 Mustriiig his royall hoast, and in that stowne 

 Sends them to Sion, and their hearts upcheeres. 

 The aged tyrant, Judaits laud that guides. 

 In feare and trouble to resist provides. 



" I sing the sacred armies and the knight 

 That Christ's great tombe enfranchis'd and set free. 

 Much wrouglit he i)y his witte, much by his might, 

 Much in that glorious conquest suffred hee : 

 Hell hindered him in vaine : in vaine to fight 

 Asia's and Aftrick's people armea bee ; 



Heav'n favour'd him : his lords and knights mis- 

 gone 

 Under his ensigne he reduc'd in one." 



I own that, to my ear and judgment, this is no 

 improvement upon what we may consider the 

 author's second attempt, although I think that the 

 slip pasted over some (if not most) copies is better 

 than the first experiment. 



The Hermit op Holyport. 



SMALL WORDS. 



I stand convicted by the critical acumen of your 

 correspondent *. of having misquoted the line 

 from Pope which heads my " note " at p. 305. I 

 entirely agree with *. that the utmost exactness 

 is desirable in such matters ; and as, under such 

 circumstances, I fear I should be ready enough to 

 accuse others of "just enough of learning to mis- 

 ({uole," I have not a word to say in extenuation 

 of my own carelessness. 



But I entirely dispute *.'s inference, and am 

 unable to see that the difference detracts in any 

 substantial degree from the aiiplicability of my 

 remarks, such as they were. 



