34 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



O* S. IX. Jan. 14. '60. 



I have also in my possession a copy of a German 

 Bible, Luther's version, printed at Halle in 1731, 

 small 12mo., in which the same omission occurs in 

 the same commandment. (See Ebert, No. 219.) 

 Could this have also been accidental ? 



I desire at this time to correct a mistake in the 

 article above referred to (p. 390.). In speaking 

 of the American editions of the Don. ay and 

 Rhemish version, the printer has made me say, 

 " there was a fourth edition printed in Phila- 

 delphia in 1804, from the fourth Dublin edition, 

 and perhaps another edition previously." The 

 first fourth was superfluous ; and I am now satis- 

 fied that no edition of this version was printed 

 between the years 1790 and 1805. 



Neo-Eboracensis. 



MS. News Letters (2 nd S. viii. 450.) — In 

 answer to the Query if any particular series of 

 such letters exist, I beg to say — on the authority 

 of Mr. Adam Stark — that the Town Council of 

 Glasgow was believed to have retained a profes- 

 sional newswriter for the purpose of a weekly 

 supply from his pen, and that a series of these 

 newsletters, descending as low as 1711, was dis- 

 covered in Glammis Castle, Scotland. I cannot 

 say if they were ever printed. 



Ben Jonson in his Masque (presented at Court 

 in 1600) entitled News from the New World, 

 makes one of the characters describe himself as — 



" Factor for news for all the shires of England. I do 

 write my thousaiftl letters aweek ordinary, sometimes one 

 thousand two hundred, and maintain the business at 

 some charge, both to hold up my reputation with mine 

 own ministers in town, and my friends of correspondence 

 in the country. I have friends of all ranks and of all 

 religions, for which I keep an answering catalogue of 

 despatch, wherein I have my Puritan news, my Protes- 

 tant news, and my Pontifical News." 



Twenty-five years subsequently to this Masque, 

 Burly Ben, in his Staple of News (acted in 1625), 

 clearly notes the transition from the written to 

 the printed news-paper when he deprecatingly 

 says of the pamphlets of news published and sent 

 out every Saturday, that it is " made all at home, 

 no syllable of truth in them; than which there 

 cannot be a greater disease in nature, or a fouler 

 scorn put upon the times." 



" . ... Unto some, 

 The very printing of them makes them news 

 That have not the heart to believe anything 

 But what they see in print." 



W. J. Stannard. 

 Hatton Garden. 



Derivation of Hawker (2 nd S. viii. 432.) — The 

 derivation of hawker from hawk (accipiter) pro- 

 posed by Alphonse Esquiros, is just that which 

 was preferred by Skinner, and for the same reason ; 

 because the hawker, like the hawk, goes to and 

 fro. " Hawkers sic dicuntur quia, instar Accipi- 

 trum, hue illuc errantes lucrum seu praedum qua- 

 quaversum venantur." (Etym. Vocab. Forerts.) 



In explanation of this etymology it should be 

 borne in mind that the hawker, who is now a seller, 

 was formerly a buyer ; he bought up articles, and 

 so raised their price in the market. Hence Skin- 

 ner's allusion to the predaceous habits of the 

 hawk. 



The hawker's habit of going about from place 

 to place, and rambling backwards and forwards, 

 " hue illuc," is also a point of correspondence with 

 the habits of the hawk kind. Some hawks sail in 

 perpetual circles; the Blue Hawk or Hen Harrier 

 " has been seen to examine a large wheat stubble 

 thoroughly, crossing it in various directions, for 

 many days in succession." (Yarrell, British Birds, 

 1856, i. 109.) So also in N. America. Red-tailed 

 hawks " may be seen beating the ground as they 

 fly over it in all directions." (Nuttall, 1840, p. 

 103.) " Hawkers, persons who went about from 

 place to place." (Bailey.) 



Between "hawks" and "hawkers," however, 

 there exists an etymological link which is generally 

 overlooked ; namely, in the verb "to hawk," in its 

 old but not very usual sense of going to and fro. 

 This meaning is not mentioned in the Dictionaries; 

 and the only example on which I can at this in- 

 stant lay my hand is in Bingley's description of 

 the dragon-fly. " The Rev. R. Sheppard informs 

 me that in the summer of 1801 he sat for some 

 time by the side of a pond, to observe a large 

 dragon-fly as it was hawking backwards and for- 

 wards in search of prey." {Animal Biog. 1813, iii. 

 233.) 



How much rushing to and fro, running forwards, 

 running back, as the rival parties prevailed, in 

 the noble game of hockey ! Hockey was formerly 

 Hawkey. (Halliwell.) 



These suggestions are simply offered in illustra- 

 tion of the etymology of " hawker " proposed by 

 Skinner ; and not with any wish to depreciate the 

 derivation which your correspondent appears to 

 prefer. Thomas Boys. 



Sending Jack after Yes (2 nd S. viii. 484.) — 

 Fielding, at the end of Tom Thumb, uses sending 

 Jack for mustard in a like sense. I do not know 

 why : — 



" So when the child, whom nurse from danger guards, 

 Sends Jack for mustard with a pack of cards, 

 Kings, queens and knaves throw one another down, 

 And the whole pack lies scattered and o'erthrown ; 

 So all our pack upon the floor is cast, 

 And my sole boast is, that 1 fall the last." 



FlTZHOPKINS. 



Garrick Club. 



MiiteVLmtaviil. 



MONTHLY FEUILLETON ON FRENCH BOOKS. 



1. Contes et Apologues Indiens inconnus jusqu'a ce jour, 

 suivis de Fables et de Poesies Chinoises, traduction de M. 



