Which also gives Lists of the New Books published during REMARKABLE COMETS: a Brief Survey of the

BOOKSELLERS' CATALOGUES (JANUARY).

(Continued on Third Advertisement Page).

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 20, 1906.

CONTENTS.-No. 108.
NOTES:-" Combine": "Gambo," 41-First Book Auctions
in England-London Improvement, 43-Stevenson and
Scott: "Hebdomadary," 44-New Year Luck-Bacteria:
Early Notice-Elsdon-Charlie, He's my Darling,' 45-
"B.N.C.," 46.

QUERIES:-Pidgin or Pigeon English-King Edgar and
the Peg-cups- Metropolitan toe"-General La Poype,
46" Ocean, mid his uproar wild"-Messenger Family-
James" University-Tower of London-Reginald Fitz
Urse The Condado - Durham Graduates-Sir George
Yonge, 47-Authors of Quotations Wanted-Sir R. Peel's
Franked and Stamped Letters - Portman Family - Sir
Gerald (or Garrett) Fleetwood- -Devonshire Funeral
Customs Mother Christmas, 48- Collingwood's De-

scendants, 49.

no more important moment in the small boy's existence than when he is first allowed cywain gwair (to carry the hay "), through the narrow lanes from meadow to rick-yard, in a car llusg ("drag-cart").

In The Spectator of 5 Sept, 1903 (p. 342) Sir William Laird Clowes gave some interesting extracts from the MS. letters written by James Cobb, secretary to the East India Company, during two long driving tours in 1815-16. "In Wales," says Sir William, "Cobb noticed what he took to be an ingenious device for evading the tax on wheeled vehicles. It consisted of a framework like the shafts of a oneREPLIES:-Fame, 49-Catalogues of MSS.-Campbells in horse chaise joined together by two or three the Strand, 51-Stines Bridge-Semper Family-Ducie traverse-boards. The rear ends of the shafts were more-"Drinkings": "Drinking Time"-Antonio Canova shod and rounded, and rested upon the ground. in England, 52-Roll of Carlaverock-Twizzle-twigs, 53-The driver sat immediately behind his horse upon Tête-à-Tête Portraits in The Town and Country MagaVisita- the traverse-board, whence, if he liked, he could zine'-Scallions-Wakerley Cricket - Heralds' tions, Northamptonshire - The Pound, Rochester Row, step forward and mount without first descending 51-London Parochial History Open-air Pulpits, 55- to the ground." Nelson's Signal - Garioch: its Pronunciation - Church Spoons-Paul Whitehead, 55-Colet on Peace and WarMr. Moxhay, Leicester Square Showman-The Ring'Hair-Powdering Closets-Bowes of Elford-Trafalgar, 57. NOTES ON BOOKS: A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles '-' Archæology and False Principles 'The Essays of Michel de Montaigne'-The Seven Deadly Sinnes of London'-County of Suffolk '-'A Supplement to the Glossary of the Dialect of Cumberland'-'A Dictionary of Indian Biography.' Booksellers' Catalogues. Notices to Correspondents.

Totes.

"COMBINE" "GAMBO." THE former word, which has developed such startling connotations in our time, is derived by the N.E.D.' either directly from late Latin combinare (con+bini), or indirectly from the same source through the French combiner. The English word has been traced back to the fourteenth century, and the French to the thirteenth. The Latin form is found in St. Augustine and Sidonius (a native of Gaul), and in glossaries. As there are, I believe, no analogous formations in Latin, I venture to suggest a Celtic origin for this very interesting word.

p. 347.

That origin may be found in combennones ("those who sat in the same benna were called combennones, Fest., p. 27; cf. Comment., A wagon of wicker or basket work is still called banne in Belgium, and benne in Switzerland," Lewis and Short's 'Lat. Dict.'). Men and ben are the Welsh forms; but there is a third form in Welsh, more to the point, to which I shall return presently.

It is well known that the Latin term covinus or covinnus is derived from a Celtic word which still survives in common use in Welsh in the verbal form cywain. In the Welsh hill-side farm there is everyday life of

I need not enlarge on this as a capital instance of the proneness of Englishmen to misjudge the Welsh character. Clowes evidently believed in this tax-evading trick. Had he looked up 'Cart' in 'The Penny Cyclopædia,' he would have found that "the drag-cart without wheels, which is used in some mountainous districts, is one of the simplest contrivances for transporting heavy weights. It consists of two strong poles, from twelve to fifteen feet long, connected by cross-pieces fixed at rightangles to them, by morticing or pinning, so that the About poles may be two or three feet apart. eighteen inches of the poles project beyond the lowest cross-piece, the ends resting on the ground. The other ends of the poles form the shafts for the horse to draw by. The load is placed on the crosspieces, over which boards are sometimes nailed, for the purpose of carrying stones, or such things as might fall through between the cross-bars. The horse bears one end of the drag-cart by means of a common cart-collar or a breast-strap. This vehicle is extremely useful in steep and rough descents, especially to draw stones from quarries, and can be made of rough poles at little or no expense. Pieces of hard wood fitted under the ends of the poles, and renewed as they wear out, will prevent the ends of the drag-cart from wearing away, and will allow it

to slide along more easily."

That, with the addition of upright poles with their several cross-poles fitted into the shafts at right angles to the fore and rear crosspieces, is an exact description of a car llusy ("drag-cart") as familiarly known to me in my boyhood fifty years ago in Wales. The most noticeable part of it was the shafting, formed of entire young trees, like the Roman valli. These poles, too, are the most prominent part of the old Irish car, which is fully described in the same article in 'The Penny Cyclopædia,' where the interesting statement is made that "the wheels of the carriages on railroads are constructed on the principle of

those of the Irish car." Pliny (N.H.,' xviii. 72) gives the earliest extant account of a European reaping-machine thus rendered in the article Reaping' in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia' :

"In the extensive fields in the lowlands of Gaul vans [?] of large size, with projecting teeth on the edge, are driven on two wheels through the standing corn by an ox yoked in a reverse position. In this manner the ears are torn off, and fall into the van."

་

cerbyd), is what Pliny calls vallum, from the fact that it was a wheeled adaptation of the drag-cart.

In the 'N.ED.' the Welsh drag-cart is called a gambo, or rather, the gambo is explained as a drag-cart on the authority of Downes, the author of 'The Mountain Decameron.' I have already (in Literature, 13 Oct., 1900, The Sin-Eater in South Wales') said that Downes nowhere shows any familiarity with the modes of life and thought of the Welsh peasantry; and his an instance of that lack of familiarity. The use of the word gambo for the drag-cart is South Wales gambo is like the "Scotch cart with movable frame" figured under the article Cart' in 'Chambers's Encyclopædia.' Had the editors of the N.E D.' known that, they might probably have attached more "" of "akimbo" when importance than they seem to have done to the form "agambo :

Pliny's word translated "vans" is valli.
The illustrative cut from Woodcroft's
Appendix to the Specifications of Eng.
Parents' is, I think. quite wrong.

dealing with the latter word. The crooking out of the arms, almost at right angles to the shoulders, is an easy metaphor from the lateral projection of a loaded gambo on its movable frame. The quotation for "agambo" in the 'N.E.D.' is from Bulwer, the "chirosopher" (seventeenth century).

·

The Irish car figured in The Penny Cyclopædia' article above referred to would be more like what Pliny calls vallum than the V-shaped projection in Rich's Dict. of R. and G. Antiquities,' as I think will be clearly seen from the following rough translation of Palladius, De Re Rustica,' vii :"In the lowlands of Gaul they abridge the task of reaping in the following manner, which does away with the need of labourers, and completes the entire operation by the help of a single ox. A two-wheeled car is made whose four-sided floor is edged with boards sloping outwards, so as to in; crease its capacity. The board at the forward end is shallower, to which numerous reaping-hooks, As a proof that the sole authority of the with their points curving upwards, are attached, and adjusted to the height of the standing corn. N.E.D.' for describing gambo as a wheelless At the tail of the car two short poles (temones) are vehicle is wrong, and that I am right, I need shaped like the handles of a litter, to which an ox only adduce the evidence of a competent is yoked and harnessed, with his head towards the vehicle. He is so thoroughly broken in to the work witness-David Owen ("Brutus"). In his that he obeys the driver's slightest motion. As witty but coarse attack on the Welsh Dissoon as the latter turns his machine into the stand-senting ministry, Wil Brydydd y Coed,' he ing crop, and proceeds to raise and lower the hooks gives a burlesque sermon on the "wheel" of from behind, so as to catch the corn-ears only, dis- the prophet Ezekiel. "This wheel it is," regarding the straw, every ear, as it is caught and The phrase subsequently cut, drops into the heap in the car, and the entire cries the preacher, "that drives the gambo field is rapidly reaped in a few turns of the machine of salvation!" back and fore across it. This plan is well adapted enjoyed an extensive circulation as clerical to flat and level ground, and where the straw is slang in Wales. Some years after the appear. ance of 'Wil Brydydd y Coed' in the Haut considered of no value." (1863-5), there was a large clerical gathering at Abergwili (or Carmarthen), under the presidency of Bishop Thirlwall. The Rev. J. Jones, of Llansadwrn, an eloquent and popular divine, was appointed to preach. He happened to take for his text the very same verse of Ezekiel that the great "Wil" had preached from. Instantly a broad grin spread over every face, and an audible titter, that no amount of blowing of noses or fits of coughing could conceal, ran through the "The bishop looked reverend assembly. puzzled and displeased," my informant, who was present, told me.

The original is by no means free from difficulty. I may add that Mr. Mark Liddell has recently edited the fifteenth century English verse translation of the work.

Here it is not difficult to explain Pliny and The latter's Palladius from each other. temones are simply Pliny's valli, which were for this special service more carefully finished than was usual, for the double reason that the animal would be yoked to them in a special way, and that the carter would be constantly handling one of them as he walked beside the ox (not sitting on the front of the car, as in Woodcroft's cut), thus reminding Palladius of the handles of a litter. This Gaulish reaping-car, then, which Palladius calls carpentum (its Gaulish name in all probability-the corresponding Welsh word is

I have written at much greater length than I had intended; but I have succeeded, I hope, in impressing the reader with the fact that the special Celtic aptitude for matters

vehicular would undoubtedly give rise to
vehicular metaphors. That being granted, I
trust that my suggestions (1) that gambo is
akin to combennones, and (2) that combennones
explains combinare better than con+bini, may
not be regarded as too foolish to warrant
discussion.
J. P. OWEN.

FIRST BOOK AUCTIONS IN ENGLAND. (See 9th S. vi. 86, 156, 318, 391.)

THAT Dr. L. Seaman's sale, 31 Oct., 1676, was the first book auction in England cannot, I think, be doubted. In the preface to this catalogue the auctioneer says:

"It hath not been usual here in England to make Sale of Books by way of Auction, or who will give most for them: But it having been practised in other Countreys to the Advantage both of Buyers and Sellers; It was therefore conceived (for the Encouragement of Learning) to publish the Sale of these Books this manner of way; and it is hoped that this will not be unacceptable to Schollers."

On p. 30 of W. Rea's auction catalogue, 19 June, 1682, the auctioneer, W. Cooper, gives a complete list of sales by auction up to that date, as follows:

"To supply the vacancy of this page, and to gratifie the Curious, whose Genius may lead them to make perfect their Collection, I have caused to be Printed the Names of those Persons whose Libraries have been sold by Auction, and the series of the time when.

1. D. L. Seaman, Oct. 31, 1676.

2. M. Th. Kidner, Feb. 6, 1676/7.
3. M. Wil. Greenhill, Feb. 18, 1677/8.

4. D. Th. Manton, Mar. 25, 1678.

5. D. Benj. Worsley, May 13, 1678.

27. D. Wil. Outram, D. Th. Gataker, Dec. 12 1681.

28. Robert Croke, Esq., Feb. 23, 1681/2.
29. Mr. Richard Smith, May 15, 1682.
30. Walt. Rea, Esq., June 19, 1682.”

This list seems disinterested, and not a
self advertisement on the part of the
auctioneer. I have seen many of the cata-
logues mentioned in the list, and, though
some of the sales were held by Cooper, several
were held by other auctioneers.
EDWARD B. HARRIS.
5, Sussex Place, Regent's Park, N.W.

LONDON IMPROVEMENT.
(Concluded from p. 2.)

THE new Courts of Justice form a grand group at the City boundary formerly marked by Temple Bar, there seen no longer. The Courts have made a last stand for Gothic, and, so far as the appearance of the metropolis is concerned, with great success; but equal satisfaction seems not to have been found with the interior accommodation.

Railway stations necessarily take their places among the prominent erections since the forties. The conditions imposed on them. render their architecture difficult. Ап elevation towards the street is practicable,. but this forms only a screen to hide the purely utilitarian character of the railway rear. Great attempts have been made at Paddington, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Liverpool Street, and St. Pancras. Their style, with the exception of the last named,. is perhaps a kind of colossal Italian. That

6. D. Jo. Godolphin, M. Ow. Philips, Nov. 11, at Charing Cross seems to apologize for

1678.

7. D. Gisb. Voetius, Nov. 25, 1678.

8. Lord Brook, D. Gabr. Sangar, Dec. 2, 1678. 9. M. Moses Pit, e Theatro Oxon, Feb. 24, 1678/9.

10. M. St. Watkins, D. Th. Shirley, Append. M. Rich. Chiswel, Jun. 2, 1679.

11. Sir Edw. Bish, Nov. 15, 1679,

12. M. Jon. Edwin, Bibl., cum Append. M. Dan, Mar. 29, 1680.

13. Sir Ken. Digby, Apr. 19, 1680. 14. M. St. Charnock, Oct. 4, 1680. 15. D. Th. Watson, Oct. 8, 1680.

16. M. Abell Roper, Bibl., Nov. 22, 1680.

17. D. H. Stubb, D. Dillingham, D. Th. Vincent, D. Canton, M. Jo. Dunton, Nov. 29, 1680. 18. Ed. Palmer, Esq., Feb. 14, 1680/1.

19. D. Th. Jessop, D. Castell, Feb. 21, 1680/1. 20. M. Sam. Brook, Mar. 21, 1680/1.

21. M. Geo. Lawson, M. Geo. Fawler, M. Ow. Stockden, M. Th. Brooks, May 30, 1681. 22. Pet. Cardonell, June 6, 1681. 23. M. Nic. Lloyd, July 4, 1681. 24. D. N. Paget, Oct. 24, 1681.

25. M. R. Button, M. Th. Owen, M. Wil. Hoel, Nov. 7, 1681.

26. Chr. Wilkinson, Th. Dring, Bibl., Dec. 5,

1681.

its intrusion into an historic locality by
exhibiting a costly reproduction of the former
Gothic memorial to the "Chère Reine" with.
associated the local name.
whom willing, but mistaken conjecture has
At St. Pancras

a bold attempt was made to show that a
mediæval form might be given to an erection
of the railway period, and very handsome
the elevation is; but when a glimpse is.
caught of the practical rear the forced blend
of associations is not happy.

Trafalgar Square, the finest site in Europe," is now almost old. The architecture of the Regency in the National Gallery is not much esteemed, but its situation saves it.. The effigy of Nelson makes somewhat strange use of the colossal Corinthian column; but it has become sacred to the nation's hero, and woe to the ædile who. would molest it! Landseer's lions, too, are there; and around the famous little admiral other heroes have mustered. Thefountains are still meagre, and, with

Nothing can be more interesting to the Londoner than to observe - say from the roof of an omnibus - the gradual transformation or rebuilding taking place along the route. He is pained sometimes by the removal of houses and public edifices which have become obsolete, but to which long familiarity had attached him. He has even seen with regret the pulling down of the massive walls of sullen old Newgate Prison. On the site has risen a stately new Criminal Court.

the other ornamental waters of the capital, Aldershot; and the handsome arch of Decimus await the consummation of a greater Burton, no longer encumbered by the pondersupply. The most beautiful feature of the ous statue, has been moved, stone by stone, square-the portico and spire of St. Martin's and now stands with greater meaning as the has been in difficulties, owing to the narrow-gate of the Palace avenue, Constitution Hill. ness of the street after the building of the The young trees are already an evident adornNational Portrait Gallery; but St. Martin's ment, and will in a few years add great has happily not suffered. Poor King Charles, beauty to "Hyde Park Corner"-the old represented by his mounted effigy, calmly name, which is now anomalous, but which forsees disturbance by the advent of the we hope will always be retained. Mall, greatly widened and beautified since. his last sad parade along it. "Her Majesty's," as we knew it in the days of Grisi, Mario, and Lablache, has gone, and "His Majesty's," a fine new theatre, stands on part of the site. Opposite is the old house "the Haymarket," dear in our memories, and now clean and virile in new paint; and the Haymarket proper is handsomer and better in character. Regent Street of the Regency has held its own, and is still the fine street of the West End; but the houses once thought stately are being dwarfed by those on the newer and grander scale. The Quadrant Colonnadewhich was the pride of its day, and, indeed, was unique and handsome-had had but thirty years of existence when removed at the close of the forties. It was regretted, but its aesthetic value did not compensate the practical merchant for inconvenience suffered in its classic shade. A few of its iron Doric pillars have remained in the openings to by streets; but these, too, will probably follow their departed fellows in the immense clearance now being made of St. James's Hall and adjoining buildings, the successors to which we await with much interest. The new monster block to be reared will also have much to do with Piccadilly, which famous thoroughfare has during the contemplated space of years seen several new erections, that perhaps of paramount interest being the increased elevation of Burlington House, the home of art, a work, of course, not approved by all critics. The London University buildings at the rear of Burlington House are worthy of a more prominent site.

East of Newgate we now find a large vacant space where once we watched the blue-gowned, yellow-stockinged boys-successors of the Grey Friars-in their playground fronting the famous school now transferred to Horsham. The great addition to the Post Office which is to rise here will scarcely be of equal interest.

Along the main thoroughfares we mark the mixing of the old and the new, the contrast between the housing and trade requirements of the past and the present. The small old houses with venerable tiled roofs peep out behind grand new fronts with huge plate-glass windows, or are squeezed between modern blocks of immense magnitude. In this the progress of the age is seen, and also the deliberate and lawful action of a free people. Thus bit by bit London is slowly renewed, and is gradually winning-as this very brief and imperfect survey may have tended to show-a place in the first rank of beautiful cities. W. L. RUTTON.

STEVENSON AND SCOTT: "HEBDOMADARY.” -In The Wrecker' (chap. vii. p. 108, Cassell, 1892) Pinkerton, whose philosophy of life is Stevensonian to the core, speaks as follows:

The grand Place opened out at Hyde Park Corner had attention in my former note, yet as the just pride of Londoners one is tempted to return to it. In its fine curved roads of liberal width, and intervening ornamental spaces, it is not only worthy of a great city, but also an example of efficient control of the tremendous traffic of London at a meetingplace where it had threatened to become unmanageable. The Iron Duke who here presides is less colossal, but more artistic, than his former presentment, now placed at following:

"Here's a sketch advertisement. Just run your eye over it. Sun, Ozone, and Music! Pinkerton's hebdomadary picnics! That's a good catching made a note of it when I was looking in the phrase, hebdomadary,' though it's hard to say. dictionary how to spell hectagonal. • Well, you're a boss word,' I said. 'Before you're very much older, I'll have you in type as long as yourself.' And here it is, you see." Re-reading Scott, I have come across the