2'"i S. VI. IIO., Sept. 4. '58.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



187 



in Leicestershire ; some perhaps pecuh'ar to that j 

 county, or, at all events, likely to pass away and 

 be forgotten, under the operation of a cause which j 

 is thus alluded to in the Quarterly Review, No. 

 203. p. 1.34.: — 



" These provincialisms are now, of course, fast disap- 

 pearing under the influence of her Majesty's Inspectors of 

 Schools, national and other." 



A. Is it true that the Squire has taken those 

 closen from you, and hurled them to Sims ? 



B. It's too true : I can't do with it : I can't sit 

 down by it : I'm hurled out of the square. 



A. Did you see the Squire, and try to collogue 

 him ? 



B. I did go, mysen : but he was nasty with me, 

 and very stupid. I know he has got a very dirty 

 lane to go down for serving me a-that-ens. 



A. M'appen he thought you had no docity. 



B. Docity, indeed! he never knew me to be 

 gizzling, or slithering about : I never set false 

 lights ; I was always solid ; I had a vast of stuff 

 off the land : I was boog over it. 



» A. Aye, you was boog, but he was blink ; but, 

 T say, how about your beasts getting into Sims' 



close ? 



B. Well, if they did, I did not know to it ; I 



am not sure now that that close does belong 



Sims. 



A. It can't be helped now. Is Mary well ? 



B. She holds mending, but nows and thens she 

 hurls up : the leg that was broke has taken good 

 ways, indeed she is gone service and likes, but she 

 can not do what she used to could. 



A. Can you do with three of us, if we come 

 your way on Sunday ? 



B. O yes, the door sha'n't be made. I don't 

 intend to moonshine, or go i'th' huddlings. 



A. I must be moving. 



B. So must I. J. O. B. 

 Loughborough. 



Johnsoniana. — There was in existence a MS. 

 common-place-book made by Giuseppe Baretti, in 

 which were copies of several letters of Dr. John- 

 son to him, and the following original verses 

 written by Johnson, and said not to be printed: — 



" Versi improvisi con la penna da G. Baretti a Samueko 

 Johnson. 

 " Si strana cosa e mi Signor non para, 

 Ho sentito amici d' qualita Foscara," &c. 

 [In all 14 lines.] 

 " Rispossa del Johnson. 

 " At sight of sparkling bowls or beauteous dames. 

 When fondness melts me, or when wine intiames, 

 I too can feel the rapture, tierce and strong ; 

 I too can pour the extemporary song : 

 But though the numbers for a moment please, 

 Though musick thrills, or sudden sallies seize, 

 Yet, lay the sonnet for an hour aside, 

 Its charms are tied and all its powers destroyed. 

 What soon is perfect, soon alike is past ; 

 That slowly grows, which must for ever last." 



What has become of this book ? And are the 

 letters, above alluded to, identical with those 

 printed in BoswelVs Johnson ? I should like to 

 see the remainder of the Italian verses. 



Cl. IIoppbr. 



Vandalism at Addleiorough. — Will the editor 

 of " N. & Q." give further publicity to the folhnv- 

 ing by finding a place for it in bis columns ? The 

 fame of such crimes should be eternal : — 



" So we sat and talked, and afterwards scrambled up 

 the rocks to the summit [of Addleborough]. Here is, or 

 rather was, a Druid circle of flat stones ; but my com- 

 panion screamed with vexation on discovering that three 

 or four of the largest stones had been talven away, and 

 were nowhere to be seen. The removal must have been 

 recent, for the places where the}' lay were still sharply 

 defined in the grass, and the maze of roots which had 

 been covered for ages was still unbleached. And so an 

 ancient monument must be destroyed either out of wanton 

 mischief, or to be broken up for the repair of a fence ! 

 Whoever were the perpetrators, I say, 



" ' Oh, be their tombs as lead to lead.' " 



— A Month in Yorkshire, by Walter White, 1858, p. 245. 



K. P. D. E. 



Derivation of the word Cant. — This word has 

 had a great many derivations attributed to it. 

 One of the most popular is, that it arose from the 

 odd style of preaching of one Cant, who is said to 

 have been a famous Puritan divine in Cromwell's 

 time. But in that most delectable History of 

 Reynard the Fox, as translated by Caxton (edited 

 by W. J. Thoms, 1844, p. 85.), is this passage. 

 The fox has enticed the wolf to look at the mare's 

 shoe, on which he tells him there is an inscription 

 he should read. The mare administers a kick, 

 which sends the wolf howling backwards with his 

 head broken. The fox asks what was written : — 



"I trowe it was cantum, for I herde you synge me 

 thought fro ferre, for ye were so wyse, that no man coude 

 rede it better than ye." 



Is there any earlier use of such a word ? A. A. 



Masonic Signs on an ancient Grave-stone at 



Utica. — 



"P. 



^ 



PiCTA . FORTV 

 TA . ^ICSIT . ANNIS 



XXVI . Die x." 



This inscription was found on a grave-slone at 

 Utica, and copied on the spot by Lieut. E. A. 

 Porcher, R.N., on the 23rd May, 1858, by whom 

 it was given to the writer. William Wisthbop. 



Persecutions of Polish Nuns. — A. D. earnestly 

 desires to know whether any new light has been 

 thrown of late years upon the story of the perse- 



