Chapter C: Forbes

Temple.

_Pronunciation of "Humble"_ (Vol. viii., p. 393.).--I venture once more to trespass on your pages, in the hope of helping to settle the right pronunciation of _humble_. In the controversy respecting it, the derivation of the word should not be overlooked, as it is a most important point; for I consider that the improper use of the _h_ has arisen from people not knowing from whence the word was taken. Now, as I am of opinion that it will go far to prove that the _h_ should be silent in _humble_, by giving a list of the radical words in the English language in which that letter is silent, and their derivations, I beg to do so: premising that they are derived from the Celtic language, in which the _h_ is not used in the same manner that it is in other languages:

_Heir_, from _oigeir_, i. e. the young man who succeeds to a property: the word is pronounced _air_.

_Honest_, from _oinnicteac_, i. e. just, liberal, generous, kind.

_Honour_, from _onoir_, i. e. praise, respect, worship.

_Hour_, from _uair_, pronounced _voir_, i. e. time present, a period of time, any time.

_Humble_, from _umal_, i. e. lowly, obedient, submissive.

_Humour._ The derivation of this word is obscure, but in the sense of _mirth_ it may be derived from _uaim-mir_, i. e. loud mirth, gaiety.

The compounds formed from these words have the _h_ silent; and every other word beginning with {552} that letter should have it fully sounded. Such being my practice, I cannot be accused of cultivating the _Heapian dialect_, which I hold to be equally abominable with the improper use of the letter _h_.

FRAS. CROSSLEY.

May not the following be the true solution of the question? All _existing_ humility is either pride or hypocrisy; pride aspirates the _h_, hypocrisy suppresses it. I always aspirate.

M.

_Continuation of Robertson_ (Vol. viii., p. 515.).--The supplementary volume proposed by MR. TURNBULL, which is wanted extremely, was never published, owing to the fact that eighty subscribers could not be found to indemnify him for the expense of printing.

G.

_Nostradamus_ (Vol. vii., p. 174.).--My edition of _Nostradamus_, 1605 (described in "N. & Q.," Vol. iv., p. 140.), has the quotation in question; but the first line has "le sang du juste," not "le sang du jusse."

The ed. of 1605 is undoubtedly genuine. Besides the twelve centuries of prophecies, it contains 141 "Presages tirez de ceux faits par M. Nostradamus," and fifty-eight "Predictions admirables pour les ans courans en ce Siecle, recueillies des memoires de feu M. Nostradamus," with a dedication to Henry IV. of France, "par Vincent Seve, de Beaucaire, 19 Mars, 1605."

R. J. R.

_Quantity of Words_ (Vol. viii., p. 386.).--ANTI-BARBARUS need not say we always pronounce Candace long, for I have never heard it otherwise than short. Labbe says it should be short, and classes it with short terminations in _[)a]cus_; but I am not aware that there is any poetical authority for it. _Canace_ and _canache_ are both short in Ovid; all which may have helped to the inference for _Cand[)a]ce_. Facciolati has an adjective _cand[)a]cus_, to which I refer your correspondent.

W. HAZEL.

_"Man proposes, but God disposes"_ (Vol. viii., p. 411.).--This saying is older than the age of Thomas a Kempis, who was born about A.D. 1380. It probably originated in two passages of Holy Scripture, on one or both of which it may have been an ancient comment:

"Hominis est animam praeparare, et Domini gubernare linguam." "Cor
hominis disponit viam suam, sed Domini est dirigere gressus
ejus."--Proverbs xvi. 1. 10.

The sentiment in both is the same, and their pith is given in a still more brief and condensed form in our own proverb. It is remarkable that while Dr. A. Clarke, in his notes on Proverbs xvi., has quoted it without reference to its authorship in the edition of Stanhope's version of _De Imitatione Christi_, which I happen to have, it is not to be found; but its place (according to your correspondent's reference) is occupied by the _two texts_ above quoted. The work referred to is asserted by some to have been only translated or transcribed by a Kempis, and written by John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, a great theologian, who died in 1429. Be that as it may, I can assure your correspondent A. B. C. that the saying in question _did not_ originate with the author of that work. In Piers Ploughman's _Vision_, written A.D. 1362, it is thus introduced:

"And _Spiritus justitiae_
Shall juggen, wol he nele he (_will he nil he!_)
After the kynges counseil,
And the comune like.
And _Spiritus prudentiae_,
In many a point shall faille,
Of that he weneth will falle,
If his wit ne weere.
Wenynge is no wysdom,
Ne wys ymaginacion.
_Homo proponit, et Deus disponit_,
And governeth alle good vertues."
Vol. ii. p. 427., ll. 13984-95. Ed. London: W. Pickering, 1842.

In the same way the author frequently introduces Latin texts from the Bible, and other books of authority and devotion. In the notes the editor generally refers to the place from whence the quotation is taken; but as there is no reference in connexion with the present passage, I infer that he was not aware of its source.

J. W. THOMAS.

Dewsbury.

_Polarised Light_ (Vol. viii., p. 409.).--I am unable to furnish H. C. K. with knowledge from the fountain-head touching this phenomenon. On referring, however, to a little work, much valued in my boyish days, I find it thus mentioned:

"The blue light of the sky is completely polarised at an angle of
seventy-four degrees from the sun, in a plane passing through the sun's
centre."--P. 219. _Newtonian Philosophy_, by Tom Telescope: Tegg, Lond.
1838.

Surely the Herschels mention this.

R. C. WARDE.

Kidderminster.

* * * * *

Miscellaneous.

NOTES ON BOOKS, ETC.

The attempt to establish a _Surrey Archaeological Society_ has at length proved successful. Upwards of one hundred and seventy Members have already joined the Society. The Duke of Norfolk has accepted its Presidency, and the Earl of Ellesmere, the Bishop of Winchester, and Lord Viscount Downe, are among the number of its Vice-Presidents. The Society has good work before it, and we trust will set about it in a way to {553} secure the success which we wish it. The Honorary Secretary and Treasurer is George Bish Webb, Esq., of 46. Addison Road North, Notting Hill; from whom gentlemen desirous of enrolling themselves as Members may obtain copies of the Prospectus, Rules, &c. of the Society.

The mention of one county Society seems to call attention to another, namely, the _Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society_, the volume of whose Proceedings for 1852 is now before us, and affords satisfactory proof that the zeal and energy of its members, of which it numbers nearly five hundred, are by no means diminished. The papers and the illustrations of the volume are highly creditable to all concerned.

The want of a collection of the early antiquities of this country has long been the greatest reproach which foreigners have been able to make against the British Museum. An opportunity of removing this has lately presented itself by an offer to the trustees of the well-known and probably unique collection, _The Faussett Museum_. Strange to say, that offer was declined: but, as a communication from the Society of Antiquaries strongly urging the propriety of a reconsideration of this decision--so that an opportunity which may never recur may not be lost--has been addressed to the trustees, we still hope that _the Faussett Museum_ will yet fill the empty cases at Great Russell Street, and form, as it is well calculated to do, the nucleus of a national collection of our own national antiquities. We understand Mr. Wylie has most liberally offered to present his valuable Fairford Collections to the Museum, if the Faussett Collection is secured for it.

BOOKS RECEIVED.--_The Life and Works of William Cowper_, by Robert Southey, Vol. I. This, the first volume of a new edition, which will be comprised in eight instead of fifteen volumes--cost twenty-eight instead of seventy-five shillings, and yet contain additional plates and matter,--is the new issue of Bohn's _Standard Library_.--_The Laws of Artistic Copyright and their Defects_, by D. R. Blaine, Esq. A little volume well calculated to instruct artists, sculptors, engravers, printsellers, &c., so that they may clearly understand their rights, their remedies for the infringement of those rights, and the proper mode of transferring their property.--_The Attic Philosopher in Paris, being the Journal of a Happy Man_, forms No. LI. of Longman's _Traveller's Library_, and is a fit companion to the _Confessions of a Working Man_, by the same author, Emile Souvestre, published in the same series a few months since.--_Apuleius: Metamorphoses, or Golden Ass, and other Works._ A new translation, to which are added a metrical version of Cupid and Psyche, and Mrs. Tighe's Psyche, is the new volume of Bohn's _Classical Library_.--_Handbook to the Library of the British Museum, &c._, by Richard Sims. After the notice of this useful little volume taken by MR. BOLTON CORNEY in our last Number, we may content ourselves with expressing our hope that the trustees, whose desire it must be to facilitate in every way the use of the Museum library, will avail themselves of the earliest opportunity of marking their approval of this able attempt on the part of one of their officers--a junior though he be--to promote so important an object.

* * * * *

BOOKS AND ODD VOLUMES WANTED TO PURCHASE.

Particulars of Price, &c. of the following Books to be sent direct to the gentlemen by whom they are required, and whose names and addresses are given for that purpose:

NICHOLS' LITERARY ANECDOTES, and the Continuation.

THE HIVE. 3 Vols. London, 1724.

THE FRIENDS. 2 Vols. London, 1773.

LONDON MAGAZINE. 1732 to 1779.

Wanted by _F. Dinsdale_, Leamington.

* * * * *

JOSEPH MEDE'S WORKS.

JONES'S (of Nayland) SERMONS, by Walker. 2 Vols. 8vo.

PLAIN SERMONS. 10 Vols. 8vo.

DEATH-BED SCENES. Best Edition.

ROSE'S (H. J.) SERMONS.

WILBERFORCE'S LIFE. 5 Vols.

Wanted by _Simms & Son_, Booksellers, Bath.

* * * * *

HUTCHINS'S DORSETSHIRE. Last Edition.

Wanted by _James Dearden_, Upton House, Poole.

* * * * *

CLARENDON'S HISTORY OF THE REBELLION. Folio. Oxford, 1703. Vol. I.

Wanted by _Rev. John James Avington_, Hungerford.

* * * * *

RECOLLECTIONS AND REFLECTIONS DURING THE REIGN OF GEORGE III., by John Nicholls. 2 Vols. 8vo. London, Ridgway, 1820.

Wanted by _G. Cornewall Lewis_, Kent House, Knightsbridge.

* * * * *

AN EXAMINATION OF THE CHARTERS AND STATUTES OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN (with the Postscript), by George Miller, D.D., F.T.C.D. Dublin, 1804.

A [First] LETTER TO THE REV. DR. PUSEY, in reference to his Letter to the Lord Bishop of Oxford, by George Miller, D.D. London, 1840.

Wanted by _Rev. B. H. Blacker_, 11. Pembroke Road, Dublin.

* * * * *

DILLWIN'S BRITISH CONIFERAE. 4to. 115 Coloured Plates. London, 1809.

(SCIOPPIUS) SCALIGER HYPOBOLYMAEUS, h. e. Elenchus Epistolae Josephi Burdonis Pseudo-Scaligeri de Vetustate et Splendore Gestis Scaligeri. 4to. Mainz, 1607.

Wanted by _Williams and Norgate_, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.

* * * * *

Notices to Correspondents.

AESTIMATOR _is informed that a new edition of Sir R. Philips's_ Million of Facts _has just been published_.

N. E. H. _will find a full history of Cocker's_ Arithmetic _in De Morgan's_ Books of Arithmetic.

C. E. C. (Reading). _The volume in question is Lyte's Translation of Dodoens'_ Historie of Plantes.

T. C. B. _Defoe's_ De Jure Divino _was first published in folio, 1706_. _See Wilson's_ Life, vol. ii. p. 465. _et seq._