2°<< S. VI. 136., Aug. 7. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



117 



The last two stanzas quoted by Z. do not ap- 

 pear in the hymn-book version, and certainly such 

 rhymes as " freed from sinning " and " blood- 

 washed linen" may excuse the omission. Dis- 

 coverers are apt to overrate the value of what 

 they find, and I think this has been the case with 

 Z. on the present occasion. 



While on the subject of hymns, I would ask 

 the following query : — Who is the author of the 

 beautiful hymn — 



" Not here, as to the prophet's eye, 

 The Lord upon his throne appears ? " 



It stands as No. 465. in the last edition of the 

 Congregational Hymn-Boolt. 



My Query about Luthers Hymn (2"* S. iv, 



151.), is still unanswered. Jaydee. 



Derivation of Hoax (2°" S. vi. 69.) — On the 

 subject of the word hoax, I beg to inform Delta 

 he will find the following answer to his Query 

 under Hoccs-Pocds in Dr. Richardson's Diction- 

 ary : " Malone considers the modern slang hoax 

 as derived from hocus, and Archdeacon Nares agrees 

 with him." In my dictionary (called Smarfs 

 Walker by the proprietor-publishers, though my 

 own title was Walker Remodelled) the word occurs 

 in its alphabetical place both in the larger work, 

 and in the epitomised edition ; and I avail myself 

 of the opportunity of regretting that I did not re- 

 fer to its origin, as I might have done. I have 

 been less negligent in some other similar cases ; 

 for instance, the words quiz, to quiz, quizzing ; 

 and if any statement as to these has not yet ap- 

 peared in "N. & Q.," perhaps it may be worth a 

 place in its pages. 



" These words which are only in vulgar or colloquial 

 use, but which Webster traces to learned roots, originated 

 in a joke. Daly, the manager of a Dublin play-house, 

 wagered that a word of no meaning should be the com- 

 mon talk and puzzle of the city in twenty-four hours : 

 in the course of that time, the letters q, u, i, z, were 

 chalked or posted on all the walls of Dublin with an 

 effect that won the wager." 



B. H. Smart. 



AthenaiUin, Fall Mall. 



Jonathan Sidnam (1" S._ xi. 466.) —The MS. 

 translation of " Pastor Fido " by this author 

 would seem not to have been printed. In the 

 Biographia Dramalica there is a notice of a piece 

 with the following title : '■'■Filli de Sciro, or, Phillis 

 of ScyroH, an excellent pastoral, written in Italian 

 by C. Giudubaldo de Bonarelli, and translated 

 into English by J. S. Gent," 4to., 1655. A trans- 



Teach me some celestial measure, 

 Sung by ransomed hosts above ; 



Oh ! the vast, the boundless treasure 

 Of ray Lord's unchanging love I " 



lation was at the same time made of "Pastor Fido," 

 but both of them were laid aside. These transla- 

 tions were made about twenty years before the 

 publication of Phillis of Scyros. 



I think there can be little doubt that Jonathan 

 Sidnam was the author of both these translations. 



P.S. Would your correspondent be kind enough 

 to inform me what is the title of the MS. play in 

 five acts by J. Sidnam ? R. Inglis. 



Who wrote " An Autumn near the Rhine f " (2'"' 

 S. vi. 91.) — In reply to the inquiry of your cor- 

 respondent J. E. T., I beg to say that the author 

 of An Autumn near the Rhine was Charles Edward 

 Dodd, Esq., Barrister, of the Middle Temple, who 

 died very soon after the publication of this, his 

 first, attempt at authorship. The book had a large 

 sale, and is now scarce. William Kidd. 



Hammersmith. 



Classical Cockneyism (2°'^ S. vi. 89.) — In addi- 

 tion to the Rev. Wm. Fraser's note on classical 

 cockneyism, and of the abuse of poor letter H, 

 permit me to add a classical pun by Julius Csesar 

 on Sylla's assumption of the Dictatorship. Sue- 

 tonius relates that when Sylla, whose illiterative- 

 ness was well known, was about to take upon 

 himself the office of Dictator, Caesar said, " Sylla 

 nescivit literas, non potuit dictare." 



Dr. Johnson asserted, under the letter H, in 

 his great English Dictionary, that H is in Eng- 

 lish, as in other languages, a note of aspira- 

 tion, and is therefore no* letter — and, in his 

 Grammar of the English Tongue, added, " that it 

 must be pronounced with a strong emission of 

 the breath, as hat, horse" — and that "it seldom 

 begins any but the first syllable, in which it is 

 always sounded with a full breath, except in heir, 

 herb, hostler, honour, humble, honest, humozir, and 

 their derivatives." 



John Wilkes observing on this dictum, said, " that 

 the author of this observation must be a man of 

 quick appre-Aension, and a most compre-^ensive 

 genius." In a note to a subsequent edition of his 

 Grammar, the stui'dy moralist replied to the flip- 

 pant wit, by adding : " It sometimes begins mid- 

 dle or final syllables in words compounded, as 

 block-head ; or derived from the Latin, as compre- 

 hended." James Elmes. 



Pronunciation of the Latin Language (2°'' S. vi. 

 49.) — Uneda asks "who can tell .... how 

 Latin is pronounced in Hungary ? " A great 

 number of persons no doubt, but not I. 



I may be permitted, however, to say thus much. 



* It is related of a certain ludimagisier of this class, 

 who having left a basin of soup intended for his morning 

 lunch, told one of his disciples to take it away and heat 

 it. When asked for, the boy said he had eaten it. "I did 

 not tell you to eat it, Sirrah, but to heat it." " So please 

 you, Domitie," was the reply, "you have always told us 

 that H was no letter." 



