Horicon (cf. Oregon, Vol. v, p. 104).According to Hough's "Gazetteer of New York," the name Horicon, as applied to Lake George, is said to have been an invention of the novelist Cooper, and not a true Indian name at all. The assertion of some is that it means "the smile of the Great Spirit." The same meaning is assigned by some guide-books to Winnepiseogee, the name of a lake in New Hampshire. Horicon Lake is also the name given on some maps of Wisconsin to what is called, on other maps, Winnebago Marsh. Where can I find a good description of this lake, or marsh, as it exists at present? GERMANTOWN, PA. N. S. S. Pets of Distinguished People (Vol. iv, pp. 274, etc.).-Matthew Arnold's dogs, cat and canary bird. It would be hard to find another company of pets for whom the need of poetic verse has been dispensed so bountifully. Although "Goss" and "Rover" died unsung, the poetical tributes addressed to the favorite dogs "Geist" and "Kaiser," and to the canary "Matthias," count up 375 verses. "They had no poet, and they died," cannot be said of Matthew Arnold's pets; their poet-master insured for all of them that fame which he so fondly desired for the little friend, Geist of "That liquid melancholy eye, From whose pathetic soul-fed springs The sense of tears in mortal things." The special tributes already alluded to belong to the later years of the poet's life, when poetical production had almost entirely ceased: "And so there rise these lines of verse Geist lived but four years, and the lines on "Geist's Grave" (January, 1881), was the first of the tributes the poet addressed to his pets. The little dachs-hound was named in memory of a remarkable conversation between his master and a Berliner visiting England in the summer of '66, while Prussia was at war with Austria; the Prussian's "Unable to divine Our companion's dying sign." In this connection occur, perhaps, the most significant lines in the poem: "What you feel escapes our ken- Who may trust us to divine?" Although "Rover with the good brown head" and "Great Atossa" "had been dismissed without a word," or rather "had died and died unsung," some time before the other pets, they come in for beautiful words of remembrance in connection with the canary, as "Nearer human were their powers, Closer knit their life with ours." Of sage Atossa sitting for hours beside the bird-cage the poet says: "Down she sank amid her fur- Of Max and Kaiser the poet had said in "Poor Matthias:" life, "Kaiser Dead," was published in the Fortnightly. Of the several pets referred to, the only one left is "Max a dachs-hound without blot, Regarding the outstretched form of his lifeless companion "Full well Max knows the friend is dead, Whose cordial talk, And jokes in doggish language said, Beguiled his walk." (See MacMillan, Dec., 1882; Fortnightly, Jan., 1881, July, 1887.) F. T. C. HARTFORD, Conn. Whiffle-tree (Vol. v, p. 77).-When we were a boy and worked on a farm, the large bar with a hook at each end, and an iron-bound hole in the middle, through which an iron pin was run to attach it to base of the tongue, was called a double-tree. To each of these hooks was attached a smaller bar, called a single-tree, or whiffletree, and this, without regard to the kind of tree they were made of; but white oak or ash was generally used for that purpose. Now, if uipul was a name formerly used in England for the dogwood, then it may be possible that whipple-tree has had the origin suggested, but it don't seem likely. LANCASTER, PA. S. S. R. Gulf of the Lion (Vol. v, pp. 93, etc.). -If Mr. Keith Johnson, or any other geographer, should deliberately attempt to change an established name in order to foist one of his own coining, I should conclude, in my own opinion at least, that he had written himself down an ass of the most hopeless kind. But I fail to find that either he or the author of the article in the "Encyclopædia Britannica" has laid himself open to any shadow of criticism. In Keith Johnson's "Imperial Atlas," recently published, and also in his "London Geography," I am able to find but one form, namely, "GULFE DU LION' (Gulf of the Lion')," just as it is here printed. So far as the Encyclopædia Britannica" is con 66 cerned, I can vouch for but one editionthat issued by Messrs. Black & Co., of Edinburgh. That is the only genuine edition, and there the name appears, GULF OF LIONS. -no Lyon or Lyons about it. This is a solemn warning to "F. H. S." to hereafter abjure all pirated editions. J. W. R. or PHILADELPHIA, PA. A Question in Grammar (Vol. v, pp. 104, etc.).—What are called practical men, "Philistines," look upon all minute verbal criticism as mere waste of time. I believe that W. J. R. belongs to a class of persons who take a wiser view of such questions. I take much pleasure in answering W. J. R.'s request for a paraphrase which shall exhibit the correlative quality of the words some and part in the case before us. I trust it will prove instructive, if not amusing. Some is here used partitively, or distributively; and in such a case it is often followed by another partitive or distributive word. Some may be correlated with other, another, some, some other, or the archaic other some. Almost any partitive will serve, as for example: "With some of the water she scours the dressers; some she puts into the kettle and boils." Or this: "A part of the water she uses in house-cleaning; another part she boils in the kettle for tea." Some, in the verses quoted, means a part; and a part means some. Every distributive expression has at least two members, like the one before us. I am sorry that W. J. R. declines to extend this discussion. I hope to have the opportunity of discussing larger questions with him in future. Many persons can explain correctly easy passages of English verse; but no wise man will engage to make everybody understand them alike. Quidquid recipitur, says Boethius ("De Cons.," v, pr. 4), recipitur ad modum recipientis. G. NEW JERSEY. Foxglove Spire (Vol. v, p. 93).—Another little point in the simile is this: The foxglove stalk is laden with what Tennyson elsewhere calls "dappled bells." There John Dory (Vol. v, p. 79).—The legend of this person is that, being a sea captain, or, rather more likely, a pirate, he made an agreement with the king of France to bring to Paris the crew of an English ship bound as captives; and that, accordingly, he attempted to make prize of an English vessel, but was himself taken prisoner. This hero of the fourteenth century (?) is celebrated in the famous old song, "John Dory," in which the king of France intended, is John, who died in England (1364), and the captor Nicholas, the Cornish man, son to a widow near Fag, Cornwall. The song is classed with the "Freemen's Songs for Three Voices," and has nine stanzas, beginning: "As it fell upon a holy day, And upon an holy tide-a, John Dory bought him an ambling nag Both music and words may be found in several collections of the seventeenth century, the earliest being "The Deuteromelia" (1609); but the song is older than any of these works. In "Gammer Gurton's Needle," printed in 1575, the second act opens with the song, "I cannot eat but little meat," to be sung to the tune of "John Dory." Richard Carew, the poet-antiquarian, refers to the same "Three Men's Song," in his "Survey of Cornwall," published 1602, but written sometime in the preceding century, during Elizabeth's reign. In seventeenth-century literature there are numerous references both to the legend and song, particularly in dramatic works, of which none is more interesting than that one in the "Chances" (Beaumont and Fletcher), where Antonio insists that "John Dory" be sung while his wound is being dressed: "I'll have John Dory; For to that war-like tune I will be opened." The song was parodied, and satires were written to the tune of it until, at last, through excess of popularity, John Dory became at once a by-word with the poets, and to future generations the name of a fish. Chappell says: "The name of the fish called 'John Dory,' corrupted from dorée or douré, is another proof of the popularity of the song" ("Pop. Mus. Old. Time"). HARTFORD, CONN. F. T. C. The Goose (Vol. v, pp. 99, etc.).—The following passage in praise of the goose comes from Ascham's "Toxophilus" (1545): "Yet welfare the gentle gouse which bringeth to a man euen to hys doore so manye excedynge commodities. For the gouse is man's comforte in war and in peace, slepynge and wakynge. What prayse so euer is gyuen to shootynge the gouse may chalenge the best parte in it. How well dothe she make a man fare at hys table? Howe easelye dothe she make a man lye in hys bed? How fit euen as her fethers be onelye for shootynge, so be her quylles fitte onelye for wrytyng,' P. R. E. etc. Tree Lists (Vol. iv, pp. 249, etc.).— "The earliest Silva of New England is contained in the following lines, which may interest some of your readers," writes a correspondent of Garden and Forest. "They were printed in 1670, in London, in 'A True and Faithful Account of the Chiefest Plantations of the English in America, to wit, of Virginia, New England, Bermudas, Barbadoes. The name of the author does not appear, but the remarks which he adds upon the value and use of some of the New England trees, and their fruits are copied, with a few verbal changes, from Wood's well-known New England Prospect,' pub: lished in 1634: "Trees both on Hills and Plains in plenty be, The long-liv' Oake, and mournful Cyprefs Tree, The Boatmen feek for Oars, light, neat-grown Sprufe; The broad spread Elme, whose concave harbours The watry, fpongy Alder good for nought, NEW YORK CITY. Part of the above has already appeared in Vol. iv, p. 249.-[ED.] Blind as a Bat.-Although this is a very common phrase, yet it is still farther fetched than "Blind as a beetle;" because bats have eyes, and some of them quite conspicuous ones. When a bat enters an illuminated chamber through an open window, he is not impelled thither by the same impulse that influences the beetle. The former is in pursuit of his insect prey, and if he comes blunderingly in contact with any object, it is because his sight is dazed by the excess of light, which he is trying to avoid; but the latter is attracted by, and drawn into, the light itself, by an instinct which seems to be common to the insect The Century for July has a striking feature in the long-expected debate on The Single Tax," by Edward Atkinson and Henry George. Mr. Atkinson opens the discussion in a paper on "A Single Tax upon Land;" Mr. George replies in "A Single Tax on Land Values," and there is a rejoinder by Mr. Atkinson. Another article that marks this number of The Century is the beginning of The Century's "Prison Series," the first paper being a thrilling account of the life of "A Yankee in Andersonville," by Dr. T. H. Mann, accompanied by a plan, and pictures made from rare photographs. The first of two papers on "Provence" describes and brilliantly illustrates an unhackneyed region of the Old World; that part of France which is like Italywith its splendid Roman remains, its palace of the Popes, and its associations with Petrarch and Laura. Miss Preston, who wrote the article, is the well-known translator of Mirèio," by the great Provençal poet Mistral. Dr. Edward Eggleston in an illustrated article tells the story of "Nathaniel Bacon, the Patriot of 1676”— and prints for the first time certain details obtained from manuscripts recently acquired by the British Museum and the Congressional Library. John Burroughs, who has not lately appeared as often as usual in the magazine, prints a characteristic out-ofdoor paper entitled "A Taste of Kentucky Blue-grass." The pictures are by a Kentucky artist, W. L. Maclean. Joseph Jefferson, in his charming Autobiography, describes his early experiences in Peru and Panama; he also tells how he revived the play of "Rip Van Winkle," in London, with the literary assistance of Dion Boucicault. He also has an amusing chapter on some English relatives. Mrs. Amelia Gere Mason describes the "Women of the French Salons of the Eighteenth Century;" and the engraver Cole presents us with one of his most exquisitely engraved blocks-the frontispiece of the number-after a painting by Filippino Lippi. The fiction of the number consists of the second part of the anonymous Anglomaniacs;" the ninth part of Mrs. Barr's " Olivia; a story, "The Reign of Reason," by Viola Roseboro' (a young Southern writer with a rapidly growing reputation); and a complete novelette, Little Venice," by Grace Denio Litchfield, with a full-page illustration by Mary Hallock Foote. The Editorial Topics are: 'On Lack of Conscience as a Means of Success," "New York's Reformed Electoral System," "A Recent Sermon," and "Tom-Toms in Politics." There is an Open Letter on "The Inside Facts of Lincoln's Nomination." A MEDIUM OF INTERCOMMUNICATION FOR LITERARY MEN, GENERAL READERS, ETC. Copyrighted 1890, by The Westminster Publishing Co. Entered at the Post-Office, Philadelphia, as Second-class Matter. American Notes and Queries PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY THE WESTMINSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY, 619 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. SAMUEL R. HARRIS, EDITOR. Single copies sold, and subscriptions taken at the publishers' office. Queries on all matters of general literary and historical interest-folk-lore, the origin of prov. erbs, familiar sayings, popular customs, quotations, etc., the authorship of books, pamphlets, poems, essays, or stories, the meaning of recondite allusions, etc., etc.-are invited from all quarters, and will be answered by editors or contributors. Room is allowed for the discussion of moot questions, and the periodical is thus a valuable medium for intercommunication between literary men and specialists. Communications for the literary department should be addressed: EDITOR AMERICAN NOTES AND QUERIES. All checks and money orders to be made payable to the order of The Westminster Publishing Company, 619 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 122. $3.00 per year. $1.75, 6 months. $1.00, 3 months. 10 cents per number. CONTENTS. NOTES:-Snob, 121-Lake Names-Cat Island-Buck Beer, REFERRED TO CORRESPONDENTS: - Archdeacon, 125-Translation Wanted-Camels in United States-Playing 'Possum-Skate Runners-Wives of Presidents-Landmarker Marks of Accidents Inherited - Indigo - Greek Cities in France and Spain-Stone Rivers, 126-Rockall, 127. COMMUNICATIONS:-Holtselster-Duke of York-Underground Streams-Blind as a Bat-Marshy Tracts, 127Gyaros Deserted Village - Bottomless Ponds - FanacleOnce-" The" in Place Names-Isle of Glass-RuskinWhiffle-tree, 128-Fjord or Ford-Ff in Proper_Names-A Question in Grammar, 129-Gulf of the Lion-Popular Superstitions, 130 Horicon Marsh The Captain of my Dreams-Sunken Islands, 131-Evil Eye-Good Old Etymologies-Floating Islands-Inland Flowing Streams, 132. The word snob originally meant a shoemaker. Exactly when it assumed the modern meaning, made familiar to all of us by Thackeray, is still a matter of philological dispute. But one of our correspondents in "The Keepsake" for the year 1831 ("The Keepsake" was one of those annuals which were popular with our grandfathers, but are now entirely superseded by the Christmas books) lit upon the following verse: "Sir Samuel Snob-that was his name- Here the word is used as a surname, but it is evidently a name that is meant to express a characteristic, the presumption being that the word had even at that date acquired its present significance. E. BRADLEY SIMS. NEW YORK CITY. |