146 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2"=i S. VI. 138., Aug. 21. '58. 



Marquis Pindemnnti's Hymn to Calliope, is appli- 

 cable to llie present Indian wni- : — 



" . . . The voice from high, 

 Eesonnding through our nether sky 

 Defenceless Britain taught to dare 

 And fix the sea, lier seat of war ; 

 Till Asi.a's prostrate pomp was seen 

 Bending before old ocean's Queen, 

 Tor such was all contronling Heaven's command, 

 Who sways bv force the sea, with laws shall rule the 

 land ! " 



J\lr. Greathead's contributions are only six ; 

 whilst Mr. ]\Ierry's number nineteen, and those of 

 Mr. Parsons thirty-one ; verses by Italian writers, 

 and music composed by Si^rnor Piozzi, increase 

 the size of this intercstins volume to 224 pages. 



E. D. 



Somersetshb-c Pronouns. — Next to pronouncing 

 s in the manner of z, the great point of the 

 Somersetshire dialect is the inversion of no- 

 minative and accusative in she and her, we and us. 

 But the inversion is not perfect in the other pro- 

 nouns; for though /is placed where me should be, 

 there is novice versa, or at least not a regular usage. 

 The following perfect instance of the first inver- 

 sions was related in my presence by the person 

 who heard it. Some children were at play in a 

 field, to whom a woman seemed to a passenger to 

 be calling out violently. The passenger said to 

 the children, "Do you not hear your mother call- 

 ing to you? " and the answer was, " Her isn't a- 

 calling of we : tts doesn't belong to she.'^ M. 



Indian Game Fowl. — Now that the poultry- 

 mania of the last few years has to a great extent 

 subsided, and Poultry Chronicles and Poultry 

 "N. & Q.'s" thereunto attached have come to a 

 perpetual end, it may not be thought out of the 

 province of our own "N. & Q." to notice, as a 

 matter of natural history, a breed of fowls kept 

 Tip by a friend of mine in this locality which 

 present characteristics very distinct from all the 

 known species. They were brought from India 

 in the same ship with the "baby elephant," I 

 believe, and are represented as being kept by the 

 Indian Rajahs for cock-fighting. They are of a 

 cinnamon colour, not much larger than the Ban- 

 tam fowl ; but with immensely strong yellow legs, 

 and muscular development. In many points they 

 resemble the "Cochin-China" in miniature, espe- 

 cially in the head and eye, and in their upright 

 carriage. The cock's tail is scanty, and droops; 

 and the plumage of both sexes is of a remarkable 

 close, solid texture, almost to the extent of that of 

 the grebe. 



Their weight, in comparison with their size, is 

 enormous ; and their prowess .and endurance in 

 warfare is such, that all other fowls are inv.ariabiy 

 worsted. The hens fight as much as the cocks, 

 and they arc continually engaged in it. 



I hope this imperfect description will be re- 



cognised by some naturalist .acquainted with India, 

 who may be able to give us their proper designa- 

 tion. I should add, that they are now perfectly 

 acclimated, and have bred freely. E. S. Tayloe. 



The last Charge at Waterloo. — In the accounts 

 of the laying of the first stone of the new Adelphi 

 Theatre "by Mr. B. Webster on 15th inst. (July), 

 we are told that 



" At the moment of lowering the stone might be heard 

 a bugle gallantly sounding a charge from an adjoining 

 building, obedient to a preconcerted signal ; the bugle so ■ 



sounded being the identical instrument that had given 1 

 the signal for the last charge at Waterloo, and the lips • 



awakening its spirit-stirring tones being the same lips 

 which had performed that oftice in that critical moment, 

 and now belonging to the respected door-keeper of the old J 

 Adelphi." — Herald, July 16, 18u8. | 



R. W. Hackwood. 



Early Wheat, Sfc. : — 



"Abingdon market, Monday, July 19, 1858. To-day I 

 we had a sample of new wheat offering ; the whole of the 

 piece carried and threshed ; quality line, and the yield very 

 good; also some samples of peas, and several samples of 

 new seeds. There will be a great quantity of corn car- 

 ried this week if the weather keeps tine. The crops are 

 remarkably good." 



In the year 1811, reaping commenced in Kent on 

 July 24; in 1818, in Surrev, on Julv 27; in 181S), on 

 Julv31; in 1822, on July 16; in 182.5, on Julv 22; in 

 1826, on Jnly 23 ; in 1828, on Julv 31 ; in 1831, on July 

 29 ; in 1833, on July 31 ; in 1834, "on July 23 ; in 1835, on 

 Jul}' 27. 



R. W. IIackwood. 



Johnson's Epitaph on Goldsmith. — Tiiree strange 

 mistakes are made in a translation of Dr. John- 

 son's Latin epitaph on Goldsmith, given in one of 

 the numerous small editions of Goldsinith's Life 

 and Works. The lines in the original stand thus : 



" Natus Hibernia Forniaj Lonfoi'diensis 

 In loco cuinomen Pallas." 



The translation given is, — 



" He was born in the Kingdom of Ireland, 



At Ferns, in the Province of Lehisler, 



WUere Pallas had set her jinme." 



The translator calls Forney Ferns, Longford 

 Leinster, and mistakes the name of the little Irish 

 village, Pallas, for that of the goddess of wisdoni 

 and patroness of learning. Abuba. 



^mor c9uerteS. 



Gibbons ludicrous Love Scene. — What Is the 

 meaning of the following passage from the re- 

 cently published Life of Cardinal Mezzo fanti, by 

 C. W. Russell, D.D., President of St. Patrick's 

 College, Maynooth ? — • 



" In this year [1823], Mezzofanti made the acquaint- 

 ance of the celebrated Duchess of Devonshire, during one 

 of her visits to the north of Italy. The success of her 

 magnificent edition of Horace's Fifth Salirc — his journey 

 to Brundusium — had suggested to her the idea of a 



