July 19. 185 l.J 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



37 



the meaning; of "rack'* might be "settled at once 

 and for ever," suppressing the fact that I made 

 the assertion witli a view of " testing the cor- 

 rectness of my opinion tliat the question was not 

 one of etymology, but of construction. In short, 

 an adept in the use of those weapons whicli are of 

 value only where victory seems a higher aim tlian 

 truth, iiis honesty would appear to be u-pon a level 

 with his taste. 



I have now done- with this gentleman. Of the 

 importance of inquiries into nice verbal distinctions 

 there might be a question, but that they sojue- 

 tiiues furnish a clue to more valua])le discoveries ; 

 but for this fact I should little regard them. At 

 all events, the remark about the difference " 'twixt 

 tweedle-duni and tweedle-dee," comes with strange 

 inconsistency from one who has written fifty-two 

 pages with no other result than raising the question 

 whether " bitter " was not " sour," and proving 

 how both qualities may be combined in a truly 

 " nauseous medicament." Samuel Hickson. 



St. John's Wood. 



[Ou-r attention having been directed by th-e pre- 

 ceding letter to Mr. Causton's pamphlet, we procured 

 and read it, with feelings of deep pain, not for our- 

 selves but for the writer. We are content to rest the 

 justification of our conduct in abridging, or, as Mr. 

 Causton terms it, " mutilating," that gentleman's com- 

 munication, on the very passages which we omitted, and 

 he has reprinted. Mr. Causton's pamphlet, written in 

 defence of his literary reputation, proves that that repu- 

 tation has no enemy so dangerous as himself We may 

 add that we propose next week publishing a summary 

 of the evidence on both sides of tliis disputed question, 

 written not by Mr. Causton nor Mr. Hickson, but by 

 a correspondent who, like those gentlemen, is personally 

 unknown to us.} 



Miliar ^atei. 



'■'■ Miser rimus.^^ — I have an extraordinary little 

 volume, which, I am told, was written by Frederic 

 Maiisell Reynolds., who died in June, 1850, enti- 

 tled, " Miserriinus. On a gravestone in Worcester 

 Cathedral is tliis inscription, ' Miserrimus,' with 

 neither name, date, nor comment. Not pub- 

 lished. Printed by Davison, Simmons, & Co., 

 1832," 12rao. 



The work purports to be a sort of autobio- 

 graphy of a most miserable wretch, and we are left 

 to suppose that his remains lie under the stone in 

 question, fur we are not furnished with any pre- 

 face or introduction. Whether the author was 

 aware of tiie name of tlie person over whom so 

 singular an inscription was placed does not ap- 

 pear ; but there is no reason to believe that the 

 re[)ulsive and painful aberrations lie details had 

 any relation to the individual buried under the 

 memorial of "Miserrimus," whose name is recorded 



in Chambers's Biographical Ilhistradons of Wor- 

 cestershire^ p. 310., as the Rev. Thomas Morris, 

 who was deprived of all ecclesiastical preferment 

 for refusing to acknowledge the king's supremacy 

 at the Revolution, and died, it is stated, in 1748, 

 silvered over with the weight and infirmities of 

 eighty-eight years — " Miserrimus." F. R. A. 



The Dog and Duck, St. George's Fields. — It is 

 not generally known, that the old stone- sign of 

 that celebrated place of public i-esort is still in 

 existence, and is preserved by being imbedded in 

 the brick wall of the garden of Bedlam Hospital 

 (visible from the road), representing a dog squat- 

 ting on his haunches with a duck in his mouth ; and 

 the date 1617. It was placed here on removal of 

 the old house which stood on, or very close to, the 

 spot ; and in the superintendant's (Mr. NichoU's) 

 room is a very pretty drawing of that ancient 

 place of amusement. I have had a sketch made 

 of it in large. 



Any information respecting the Dog and Duck, 

 its guests, visitors, or landlords, would be most 

 acceptable to G. Creed. 



The Habit of Profane Swearing by the English. 

 — The revolting habit of swearing — which, of 

 late years, has happily diminished — has been a 

 marked characteristic of the English for many 

 centuries ; and the national adjuration which has 

 given us a nick-name on the continent, appears to 

 have prevailed at an earlier period than is gene- 

 rally supposed. 



" The English," observes Henry, " were re- 

 markable in this period (between 1399 and 1485) 

 among the nations of Europe, for the absurd and 

 impious practice of profane swearing in conversa- 

 tion." 



The Count of Luxemburg, accompanied by the 

 Earls of Warwick and Stafibrd, visited the Maid 

 of Orleans in her prison at Rouen, where she was 

 chained to the floor and loaded with irons. The 

 Cotm.t, who had sold her to. the English, pretended 

 that he had come to treat with her about her ran- 

 som. After addressing liim with contempt and dis- 

 dain, she turned her eyes towards the two Earls, and 

 said, — "I know that you English are determined 

 to put me to death, and imagine that, after I am 

 dead, you will conquer France : but, though there 



were a hundred thousand G dammees more in 



France than there are, they will never conquer 

 that kingdom." So early had the English got this 

 odious nick-name by their frequent and common 

 use of that horrid and disgusting imprecation. 



T. We. 



Tennyson s Use of the Word "Cycle."— A Moiety. 

 — There is a line in Locksley Hall which has 

 always appeared to me a sad blemish in a fine 

 poem, and which may, perhaps, puzzle posterity 

 as much as any of those which have been illus- 



