38 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 90. 



trated by G. P. (Vol. iii., p. 319.) I allude to that 

 in stanza 92. : 



" Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay." 



Posterity will easily learn that the Chinese cycle 

 wasjust "sixtyyears," and will havesome difficulty 

 in believing that Tennyson should have rated the 

 disparity between life in Europe an.l in China no 

 higher than as six to five. It. is evident that the 

 poet used a " cycle " in the signification of a long 

 period of years ; but will posterity be able to find 

 any authority for this use of the word ? Can any 

 one refer to a dictionary which explains it in that 

 sense, or to any other good author who has so 

 used it ? 



This use of the word " cycle " is associated in 

 my mind with a use (or rather abuse) of tlie word 

 "moiety," which prevails in the north of Ireland, 

 and perhaps elsewhere. It properly signifies " one 

 half," but many employ it in the sense of a very 

 small portion. I hope no one will introduce it 

 into poetry with this signification. 



Matteb of Fact. 



caucn'csi. 



ETYMOLOGY OF FOXTAINEBLEAU. 



The Description Routiere et Geographique de 

 VEmpire Fraiigais, already cited by me on the 

 subject of Bicetre, furnishes the following parti- 

 culars respecting the derivation of Fontainebleau: 



" Ce bassin sert de decharge a la fontaine, qui a 

 donne, dit-on, son nom a Fontainebleau. EUe est 

 nommee, dans les anciennes chartes, Fans Blaudi. 

 Quelques modernes substituent a cotte etymologie celle 

 de belie eaii, d'ou ils font egalenieiit deriver Fontaine- 

 bleau. L'une et Tautre sont rejetees par Expilly, et 

 remplacees par une troisieme de sa fajon, qui est evi- 

 dente, selon lui, et qui, selon ses lecteurs, est la plus 

 absurde de toutes. Je vais citer ce passage pour faire 

 sentir jusqu'a quel travers d'esprit peut conduire la 

 manie des etymologies. ' Pourquoi,' dit-il, 'se donner 

 la torture a ce sujet ? II suffit de la moindre notion 

 de la chasse pour savoir que, quand le chasseur appelle 

 les chiens, il crie : T/iia hillantf N'est-il pas vrai- 

 semblable que le chateau ayant ete bati en pays de 

 chasse, les habitans des environs, enteadant continuelle- 

 ment le mot hillaut, I'appellerent de ce nom, auquel ils 

 joignirent celui de la fontaine pres de laquelle il avail 

 ete bati. De Fontaine hillaut on fit insensiblement 

 Fontainebleau.' " 



Two Queries suggest themselves here. Who or 

 what was Blaudus or Blaudum ? Is our Tally-ho 

 derived from Thia hillaut, or vice versa ? As to 

 the " travers d'esprit," so gravely imputed to 

 Expilly, it is clear to me that his solution of the 

 matter must be taken as a burlesque on etymolo- 

 gists, rather than as any evidence of his own extra- 

 vagance in that respect. Henry H. Bheen. 



St. Lucia, June, 1851. 



FORCB OF CONSCIENCE. 



The following relation has often been reprinted 

 in religious magazines and the like. It is given 

 by Dr. Fordyce, Professor of Philosophy at Aber- 

 deen, in his Dialogues concerning Education (Lon- 

 don, 1748, vol. ii. p. 401.), as " a true story, which 

 happened in a neighbouring state not many years 

 ago." Can any of your readers furnish me with 

 Dr. F.'s authority for the assertion ? — the Doctor 

 himself gives none. One would think that, if true, 

 its truth might be easily verified. If its truth 

 cannot be satisfactorily established, to reprint such 

 tales cannot but be most mischievous : — 



" A jeweller of considerable wealth having occasion 

 to travel to some distance from the place of his abode, 

 took with liim a servant in order to take care of his 

 portmanteau. Having occasion to dismount on the 

 road, the servant, watching his opportunity, took a 

 pistol from his master's saddle and shot him dead on 

 the spot ; then rifled him of his money and jewels, and 

 threw the body into the nearest river. With this 

 booty he made off to a distant part of the country. 



He was at length admitted to a share of 



the government of the town, and rose from one post 

 to another, till at length he was chosen to be chief 



magistrate One day as he sat on the bench 



with some of his brethren in the magistracy, a criminal 

 was brought before him who was accused of murdering 

 his master. The evidenco was full ; the jury brought 

 in their verdict that the prisoner was guilty; and the 

 whde assembly awaited the sentence of the President 

 of the court, which he happened to I)e on that day. 



At length coming down from the bench he 



placed himself by the guilty man at the bar, and made 

 a full confession of his own guilt, and of all its aggra- 

 vations We may easily suppose the great 



amazement of all the assembly, and especially of his 

 fellow-judges. Tliey proceeded, however, upon this 

 confession, to pass sentence upon him, and he died 

 with all the symptoms of a penitent mind." 



J.K. 



ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE NORTH. 



English letters are exciting a daily increasing 

 interest in the north of Europe — that hardy and 

 romantic country whence we ourselves are de- 

 scended. But their means for purchase are very 

 scanty, and I have been requested by tlie chief 

 librarians of the Royal Libraiy, Stockholm, and 

 the University Library, Copenhagen, to endeavour 

 to procure them English books by gift from private 

 individuals and public societies and libraries. 



Can you assist me in this work by making 

 this their prayer known in your widely-spread 

 columns ? 



Any English works, large or small, old or new, 

 in any department of literature, but especially in 

 archseology, folk-lore, history, theology, belles- 

 lettres, &c., particularly books privateli/ printed, 

 or otherwise scarce or dear, will be most accept- 



