Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 211, November 12, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
_Samuel Pepys's Grammar._--I have lately been looking over the _Diary_ of
this very clever person, and I confess it has surprised me to find him, a
graduate of Cambridge, and, in fact, I may say a man of letters, constantly
employing such vulgar bad grammar as "he _do_ say," and such like. I am the
more surprised when, on looking at his letters, even the familiar ones to
his cousin Roger and to W. Hewer, I can find nothing of the kind, they
being as grammatical and as well written as any of the time.
My hypothesis is--LORD BRAYBROOKE can correct me if I am wrong--that Pepys,
writing his _Diary_ in short-hand, used one and the same character for all
the persons of the present tense of _do_, and that the decypherer did not
attend to this circumstance. In his letter to Col. Legge (vol. v. p. 296.),
Pepys writes "His R. H. _does_ think," &c., which in the _Diary_ would
surely be "His R. H. _do_ think," &c. In a similar way I would account for
the use of _come_ instead of _came_ in the _Diary_, as there is nothing of
the kind in the Letters. Should I be right, I may have rendered a slight
service to the memory of an able and worthy man.
THOS. KEIGHTLEY.
_Roman Remains._--In Wright's _Celt, Roman, and Saxon_, p. 207., a curious
Roman altar, dedicated to Silvanus, "ab aprum eximiae forme captum," is
mentioned as found at Durham. It was found in the wild district to the
west, in the neighbourhood of Stanhope in Weardale, and is preserve in the
rectory house there.
P. 330., figure A. This armilla (?) was not found in Northumberland, but in
Sussex, together with several others of the same form, a torques and celts.
W. C. TREVELYAN.
Wallington.
_To grab._--A very popular writer has lately rightly denounced the use of
this word as a vulgarism. Like many other monosyllables used by our working
classes, it may plead antiquity in extenuation of its vulgarity. It has
been derived from the Welsh word _grabiaw_, to grasp, and in ancient times
was one of our "household words." The retention by a tailor of a portion of
the cloth delivered to him, although it had been a usage from time
immemorial, might have been considered by our forefathers as a _grabbage_:
we now call it _cabbage_.
N. W. S.
_Curfew at Sandwich._--Sometime back it was stated that the curfew at
Sandwich had been discontinued. It has been resumed in consequence of the
opposition made by the inhabitants. The same occurred about twenty years
ago. (From information on the spot.)
E. M.
_Ecclesiastical Censure._--Ecclesiastical censure was often used in the
Middle Ages to enforce civil rights, specially that of the exemption of the
clergy from the judgment of a lay tribunal. The following instance thereof
is new to me. I have copied it from "Collectanea Gervasii Holles," vol. i.
p. 529., Lansdowne MS. 207., in the British Museum:
"Ex Archis Linc. a^o 1307.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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