206 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 99. 



Dr. Jackson, one would feel inclined to question, 

 or at least to require iiirther proof of some obser- 

 vations of his. He says, in treating of our present 

 passage : 



" The very literal importance of those three words 

 in the original — vTroTrid(w, icripv^as, and dooKi/ios — can- 

 not be so well learned from any Dictionary or Lexicon, 

 as from such as write of the Olympic Games, or of that 

 kind of tryal of masteries, which in his time or before 

 was in nse. The word viroina^ai is proper (I take it) 

 xmto wrestlers, whose practice it was to keep under 

 other men's bodies, not their own, or to keep their 

 antagonists from all advantage of hold, either gotten or 

 aimed at. But our apostle did imitate their practice 

 upon his own body, not on any others ; for his own 

 bodv was his chief antagonist." — Works, vol. ii. p. 644. 

 Lond. 1673. 



Suidas makes some remarks upon the word, but 

 they are not very much to our purpose. Rt. 



Warmington. 



3Ieaning of Whitsunday. — T long ago suggested 

 in your pages that Whitsun Day, or, as it was an- 

 ciently written, Witson Day, meant Wisdom Day, 

 or the day of tlie outpouring of Divine wisdom ; 

 and I requested tlie attention of your learned 

 correspondents to this subject. I cannot refrain 

 from thanking C. H. for his fouitli quotation from 

 Richard lloUe (Vol. iv , p. 50.) in conlirmation of 

 this view. 



" This day ivitsonday is cakl, 

 For wisdom §• loit seuene fald 

 Was youen to J'- apostles as I'is day 

 For wise in alle I'ingis wer thay, 

 To spek w' outen mannes lore 

 A\ maner langagc eueri whore." 



H. T. G. 



Anagrammatic Pun hy William Oldys. — Your 

 correspondent's Query concerning Oldys's ^-Icwmw^ 

 of London Libraries (Vol. iv., p. 176.), reminded 

 me of the following jjunning anagram on the name 

 of that celebrated bibliographer, v/liich may claim 

 a place among the first productions of its class. It 

 was by Oldys himself, and is attached to one of his 

 own transcripts in the British Museum : 



" In word and Will I am a filend to you, 

 And one friend Old is worth a hundred new." 



Bl.OWEN. 



Ballad of Chevy Chase : Ovid. — Addison, in his 

 critique on the ballad of " Chevy Chase," after 

 quoting the stanza — 



" Against Sir Hugh Montgomery, 

 So right his shaft he set, 

 The grey goose wing that was thereon 

 In his heart's blood was wet," 



says that " the thought " in that stanza " was 

 never touched by any other poet, and is such a one 

 as would have shined in Homer or Virgil." It is 

 perhaps true that there is no passage in any other 



writer exactly resembling this, but it is not quite 

 true that the thought has not been touched; for 

 there is something approaching to it in Ovid's 

 Metamorphoses, where the slaughter of Niobe's 

 children by the arrows of Apollo is described : 

 " Altera per jugulum pennis tenus acta sagitta est : 



Expulit hunc satif/uis ; seqiie cjaculatus in ahum 



Emicat." — VI. 2'JO. 



The author of this ballad would appear, from 

 the passages cited by Addison, to have been well 

 read in the Latin poets. Had Addison recollected 

 the above .passage of Ovid, he would doubtless 

 have adduced it. J- S. W. 



Stockwell. 



Horace Walpole at Eton. — The following anec- 

 dote of Horace Walpole while at Eton was related 

 by the learned Jacob Bryant, one of his school- 

 fellows, and has not, I believe, been printed ; it is 

 at all events very much at your service. 



In those days the Etonians were in the habit of 

 acting plays, and amongst others I'amerlane was 

 selocteil for representation. The cast of parts has 

 unluckily not been preserved, but it is sufEcient 

 for us to know that the lower boys were put into 

 requisition to personate the mutes. Alter the 

 performance the wine, which had been provided 

 for the actors, had disappeared, and a strong sus- 

 picion arose that the lower boys behind the scenes 

 had made free with it, and Horace Walpole ex- 

 claimed, " The mutes have swallowed the liquids ! " 



Beaybkooke. 



«aurn'c<S. 



CONTINENTAL WATCHMEN AND THEIR SONGS. 



The inquiries I made in Vol. iii., p. 324., re- 

 specting the Bellman and his Songs, have been 

 answered by most interesting information (pp. 377. 

 451. 485.) ; and the references made by the Editor 

 to V. Bourne's translation was most acceptable. 

 The interest of this subject is increased by finding 

 that the Custos Nocturnus exists at the present 

 day in other countries, resembling very much in 

 duties, costume, and chants the Westminster 

 Bellman. I venture to send you extracts from 

 W. Hurtou's Voyage from Jjeith to Lapland, and 

 Dr. Forbes's Physician" s Holiday. 



" During ihe past year of 1849 it has been my lot 

 to reside at four of the most remarkable capitals of 

 Europe, and successively to experience what spring is 

 in London, what simimer is in Paris, what autumn is 

 in Edmburgh, and what winter is in Copenhagen. 

 Vividly, indeed, can I dwell on tlie marvellous con- 

 trast of the night .Tspect of each : but one of the most 

 interesting peculiarities I have noticed in any of them, 

 is that presented by the watchmen of the last-named. 

 When I first looked on these guardians of the night, 

 I involuntarily thought of Shakspeare's Dogberry and 

 Verges. The sturdy watchers are muffled in uniform 



