Appendix 5 1 9 



thus hens hatched in an artificial oven, as in Egypt, in three or 

 four generations (the same process having been repeated in each) 

 lose the instinct of brooding. I trust that this Note will not be 

 considered as lessening the value of this sweet delightful book. 

 S. T. Coleridge, July 7, 1810, Keswick. 



Vol. I. p. 326 [263]. The remark that I shall make on these 

 cobweb-like appearances, called gossamer, is, that, strange and 

 superstitious as the notions about them were formerly, nobody in 

 these days doubts but that they are the real production of small 

 spiders, which swarm in the fields in fine weather in autumn, and 

 have a power of shooting out webs from their tails so as to render 

 themselves buoyant and lighter than air. 



Note. Permit me to observe, as a certain yet hitherto unnoticed 

 etymology of this word, that it is " God's Dame's Hair," and in 

 Monkish Latin (where I found it) called Fila Marias, Capilla 

 Matris Dei. Thus Gossip i.e., God's Sib. 



Vol. I. p. 332 [267]. It would be matter of some curiosity, could 

 one meet with an intelligent person among them, to inquire 

 whether, in their jargon, they still retain any Greek words : the 

 Greek radicals will appear in hand, foot, head, water, earth, &c. 

 It is possible, that amidst their cant and corrupted dialect many 

 mutilated remains of their native language might still be discovered. 



Note. This has been done by a learned German (Grellmann), 

 who has made it evident that they are the remains of an expelled 

 nation from between Persia and Hindostan. 



Vol. I. p. 333 [267]. Gypsies are called in French, Bohemiens; 

 in Italian and modern Greek, Zingani. 



Note. The Zingani in Calibria and Apulia are not gypsies, but 

 Christian Greeks with a very strange religion. 



Vol. I. P. 358 [289]. Thus far it is plain that the deprivation 

 of masculine vigour puts a stop to the growth of those parts or 

 appendages that are looked upon as its insignia. 



