Various

“ The origin of "news" may now be safely left to itself, one thing at least being certain—that the original purpose of introducing the subject, that of disproving its alleged derivation from the points of the compass, is fully attained. No person has come forward to defend that derivation, and therefore I hope that the credit of expunging such a fallacy from books of reference will hereafter be due to "NOTES AND QUERIES". ”

“ News must be singular, says MR. HICKSON; but means "is beyond all dispute plural," for Shakspeare talks of "a mean:" with news, however, there is the slight difficulty of the absence of the noun new to start from. Why is the absence of the singular an insuperable difficulty in the way of the formation of a plural noun from an adjective, any more than of plural nouns otherwise formed, which have no singulars, as clothes, measles, alms, &c. ”

“ If he means this, I should like to hear some reasons for this wonderful simplification of grammar.
Why may not "convenience or necessity" sometimes lead us to swerve from the ordinary rules of the formulation of language, as well as to import words bodily, and, according to MR. HICKSON'S views of the origin of news, without reference to context, meaning, part of speech, or anything else? ”

“ It is perfectly well known that Shakspeare constantly uses the passive for the active participle, in the same manner that he uses the present tense for the passive participle, and commits numerous other offences against correct grammar, judging by the modern standard. ”

“ Towards this end there lies a large slab of blue marble, which is called 'Long Meg' of Westminster. Though it is inscribed to Gervasius de Blois, abbot, 1160 natural son of King Stephen, he is said to have been buried under a small stone, and tradition assigns 'Long Meg' as the gravestone of twenty-six monks, who were carried off by the plague in 1349, and buried together in one grave. ”

“ Here again he is at odds with Doctor Johnson, although I doubt very much that he has the odds of him. MR. HICKSON rejects altogether the quasi mode of derivation, nor will he allow that the same word may (even in different languages) deviate from its original meaning. But, most unfortunately for MR. HICKSON, the obsolete French signification of "noise" was precisely the present English one! A French writer thus refers to it:—
"A une époque plus reculée ce mot avait un sens différent: il signifiait bruit, cries de joie, &c. ”

“ From the glorious light of heaven, sent down from the father of Lights on the day of Pentecost: and "those vast diffusions of light and knowledge, which were then shed upon the Apostles, in order to the enlightening of the world." ”

“ Amongst other "choice and experimental receipts" and "curiosities" which in this little tome are recommended for the cure of some of the "ills which flesh is heir to," one directs the patient to
"Take two parts of the moss growing on the skull of a dead man (pulled as small as you can with the fingers) ."
Another enlarges on the virtue of
"A little bag containing some powder of toads calcined, so that the bag lay always upon the pit of the stomach next the skin, and presently it took away all pain as long as it hung there but if you left off the bag the pain returned. ”

“ MR. HICKSON also lays great stress upon the absence, in English, of "the new" as a singular of "the news." In the French, however, "la nouvelle" is common enough in the exact sense of news. Will he allow nothing for the caprice of idiom?
A.E.B.
Leeds, July 8. 1850.
News, Noise (Vol. ii., p. 82.) .—I think it will be found that MR. HICKSON is misinformed as to the fact of the employment of the Norman French word noise, in the French sense, in England. ”

“ In fact, so numerous are these instances, modern editors have been continually compelled to alter the original merely in deference to the ears of modern readers. They have not altered delighted to delightful; but the meaning is beyond a doubt. "Example is better than precept," and perhaps, if MR. HICKSON will have the kindness to consult the following passages with attention, he may be inclined to arrive at the conclusion, it is not so very dark an offence to assert that Shakspeare did use the passive participle for the active ”

“ Whit-sonday was, therefore, the day on which the Apostles were endued by God with wisdom and knowledge: and my Query is, whether the root of the word may not be found in the Anglo-Saxon verb,—
Witan, to know, understand (whence our wit, in its old meaning of good sense, or cleverness and the expression "having one's wits about one," &c.) ”

“ Practice of Scalping amongst the Scythians—Scandinavian Mythology.—In Vol. ii., p. 12., I desired to be informed whether this practice has prevailed amongst any people besides the American Indians. As you have established no rule against an inquirer's replying to his own Query, (though, unfortunately for other inquirers, self-imposed by some of your correspondents) I shall avail myself of your permission, and refer those who are interested in the subject to Herodotus, Melpomene 64, where they will find that the practice of scalping prevailed amongst the Scythians. ”

“ Sanare is to cure, and a curing-place is, if you like, properly called sanatorium. But the Latin for health is sanitas, and the laws which relate to health should be called sanitary.
Analogy leads us to connexion, not connection; plecto, plexus, complexion; flecto, flexus, inflexion; necto, nexus, connexion, &c.; while the termination ction belongs to words derived from Latin verbs whose passive participles end in ctus as lego, lectus, collection; injecio, injectus, injection; seco, sectus, section, &c.
CH.
Minor Notes.
Pasquinade on Leo XII.—The Query put to a Pope (Vol. ii., p. 104.) ”

“ In the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1846, I made this remark:
"There can, we think, be no doubt that the device used by Caxton, and afterwards by Wynkyn de Worde, (W. 4.7 C.) was intended for the figures 74, (though Dibdin, p. cxxvii, seems incredulous in the matter) , and that its allusion was to the year 1474 which may very probably have been that in which his press was set up in Westminster."
Will the Editor of "NOTES AND QUERIES" now allow me to modify this suggestion? ”

“ And why do the lower classes, whose "vulgarisms" are, in nine cases out of ten, more correct than our refinements, still talk about Whitsun Monday and Whitsun Tuesday, where the more polite say, Whit Monday and Tuesday?
Query II. As I am upon etymologies, let me ask, may not the word Mass, used for the Lord's Supper—which Baronius derives from the Hebrew missach, an oblation, and which is commonly derived from the "missa missorum"—be nothing more nor less than mess (mes, old French) , the meal, the repast, the supper? We have it still lingering in the phrase, "an officers' mess;" i.e. ”

“ Roland and Oliver.—Canciani says there is a figure in the church porch at Verona which, from being in the same place with Roland, and manifestly of the same age, he supposes may be Oliver, armed with a spiked ball fastened by a chain to a staff of about three feet in length. Who are Roland and Oliver? There is the following derivation of the saying "a Roland for your Oliver," without any reference or authority attached, in my note-book ”

“ Hell paved with good Intentions (Vol. ii., p. 86.) .—The history of the phrase which Sir Walter Scott attributed "to a stern old divine," and which J.M.G. moralises upon, and asserts to be a misquotation for "the road to hell," &c., is this:—Boswell, {141} in his Life of Johnson (sub 15th April, 1775) , says that Johnson, in allusion to the unhappy failure of pious resolves, said to an acquaintance, "Sir, hell is paved with good intentions." Upon which Malone adds a note:
"This is a proverbial saying. ”

“ It related that a Count Manning, of Manning in Saxony, having been banished from thence, became king in Friesland, and that his descendants came over to England, and settled in Kent and Norfolk. Pedigrees of the Kentish branch exist: but that of Norfolk was distinct. Guillim refers to some of the name in Friesland. ”

“ Letters, stating particulars and lowest price, carriage free, to be sent to Mr. BELL, Publisher of "NOTES AND QUERIES," 186. Fleet Street.
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS
VOLUME THE FIRST OF NOTES AND QUERIES, with Title-page and very copious Index, is now ready, price 9s. 6d., bound in cloth, and may be had, by order, of all Booksellers and Newsmen.
Erratum.—No. 38. p. 113. col. 2. l. 37., for "participle" read "particle." ”

“ Eating Snakes a Charm for growing young.—I send you the following illustrations of this curious receipt for growing young. Perhaps some of your correspondents will furnish me with some others, and some additional light on the subject. ”

“ From these extracts the occupation of Long Meg may be readily guessed at. Is it then likely that such a detestable character would have been buried amongst "goodly friars" and "holy abbots" in the cloisters of our venerable abbey? I think not: but I leave considerable doubts as to whether Meg was a real personage.—Query. Is she not akin to Tom Thumb, Jack the Giant-killer, Doctor Rat, and a host of others of the same type?
The stone in question is, I know, on account of its great size, jokingly called "Long Meg, of Westminster" by the vulgar; but no one, surely, before Mr. ”

“ GAZPACHO, OR SUMMER MONTHS IN SPAIN. By W.G. CLARK, M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. 7s. 6d.
AUVERGNE, PIEDMONT, AND SAVOY. A Summer Ramble. By C.R. WELD, Author of "History of the Royal Society." 8s. 6d.
WANDERINGS IN THE WESTERN REPUBLICS OF AMERICA. By G. BYAM, Author of "Wild Life in the Interior of Central America." With Illustrations, 7s. 6d.
HESPEROS: or, Travels in the West. By MRS. HOUSTOUN, Author of "Texas and the Gulf of Mexico." Two Volumes. Post 8vo., 14s.
DR. WHEWELL ON CAMBRIDGE EDUCATION. Part I. Principles and Recent History. Second Edition. 4s. 6d. ”