Notes and Queries, Number 56, November 23, 1850Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 56, November 23, 1850
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
[We subjoin the following Query, as one so closely connected with the
foregoing, that the explanation of the one will probably clear up the
obscurity in which the other is involved.]
{424} _To save One's Bacon._--Can you or any of your correspondents inform
me of the origin of the common saying, "He's just saved his bacon?" It has
puzzled me considerably, and I really can form no conjecture why "bacon"
should be the article "saved."
C.H.M.
_Arabic Numerals._--I should be glad to know something about the projected
work of Brugsh, Berlin, referred to in Vol. ii., p. 294.,--its size and
price.
J.W.H.
_Cardinal._--"_Never did Cardinal bring good to England._"--We read in Dr.
Ligard's _History_ (vol. iv. p. 527.), on the authority of Cavendish, that
when the Cardinals Campeggio and Wolsey adjourned the inquiry into the
legality of Henry VIII.'s marriage with Catharine of Arragon, "the Duke of
Suffolk, striking the table, exclaimed with vehemence, that the 'old saw'
was now verified,--'Never did Cardinal bring good to England.'" I should be
glad to know if this saying is to be met with elsewhere, and what gave rise
to it?
O.P.Q.
"_By the bye," &c._--What is the etymology of the phrases "by the bye," "by
and by," and such like?
J.R.N.
_Poisons._--Our ancestors believed in the existence of poisons made so
artfully that they did not operate till several years after they were
administered. I should be greatly obliged by any information on this
subject obtained from English books published previously to 1600.
M.
_Cabalistic Author._--Who was the author of a chemical and cabalistical
work, not noticed by Lowndes, entitled:
"A philosophicall epitaph in hierogliphicall figures. A briefe of the
golden calf (the world's idol). The golden ass well managed, and Midas
restored to reason. Written by J. Rod, Glauber, and Jehior, the three
principles or originall of all things. Published by W.C., Esquire, 8vo.
Lond. Printed for William Cooper, at the Pellican, in Little Britain,
1673."
With a long catalogue of chemical books, in three parts, at the end. My
copy has two titles, the first being an engraved one, with ten small
circles round it, containing hieroglyphical figures, and an engraved
frontispiece, which is repeated in the volume, with some other cuts. There
are two dedications, one to Robert Boyle, Esq., and the other to Elias
Ashmole, Esq.; both signed "W.C. or twice five hundred," which signature is
repeated in other parts of the book. What is the meaning of "W.C. or twice
five hundred"?
T. CR.
_Brandon the Juggler._--Where is any information to be obtained of Brandon
the Juggler, who lived in the reign of King Henry VIII.?
T. CR.
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