NOTES AND QUERIES.

Evening Star, Issue 7259, 9 July 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

NOTES AND QUERIES.

AbVOCATUS DIABOLI, THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE. —In the Romish Church, when it is proposed that a deceased person shall be canonised, an examination of his past life takes place. In this process one party holds the office as accuser or advocattis diaboli, and it is his duty to bring forward all possible objections against tho proposed canonisation; while on the other side, tne advocattis Dei (God's advocate) undertakes the defence. . . , . . ~ .Esthetics.—A term invented about the middle of last century by a German professor of philosophy to denote the science of the beautiful, particularly of art, as the most perfect manifestation of the beautiful. It has the merit of being at once comprehensive and clear, and has therefore been widely adopted by critics both in England and France. The beautiful was a favorite subject of contemplation among the ancients. The name of Plato is inseparably associated with it. Professor Blackie, in his essays on " Beauty," says :—" Beauty does not consist in one element, or in one power, or in one proportion, but in many elements, powers, and proportions." The principal of these are order, congruity or harmony, actuality, perfection (in the Platonic sense) —viz., the full result of a creative energy, expressiveness, smoothness, delicacy, and curvature. With reference to_ this last principle, Professor Blackie points to the fact that Nature everywhere avoids angular lines, especially in the human figure, and most of all in the sex which has ever been considered the highest symbol of the beautiful. Bound-Bailiff, in England, is an officer of the sheriff whose duty is to discover and arrest debtors. As the sheriff is responsible for the misconduct of these bailiffs, they are annually bound in an obligation, with sureties, for the due execution of their office, and are, in consequence, called bound-bailiffs, a name which Blackstone is at pains to inform us, " the common people have corrupted into a much more homely appellation, namely, 'Bum Bailiff.'" Brawling in Churches, in the law of England, is an offence against the public peace. This offence may generally be described as quarrelling or creating a disturbance in a church; therefore mere quarrelsome words, which are neither an affray nor an offence in any other place, arc penal when used in a church. It was enacted in the reign of Edward VI. that if any person shall, by words only, quarrel, chide, or brawl in a church or churchyard, he might be prohibited from entering the church; and persons assaulting others there might be exoommunicated, or have on ear cut off and be branded on the cheek. But this enactment was repealed in 1860. Justices of the Peace, nnder new Acts, can deal with persons for so acting by fining the offender L 5, or committing him to prison for two months. Constables and churchwardens may immediately apprehend and remove the offender. Bribery at Elections.—A well-known form of corruption which may be called the canker and disgrace of constitutional governments. It is perhaps more openly and audiciously practised in various parts of the United States than it is in England ; nor is it by any means unknown in some of the Continental States. In the eye of the world, however, England had the unenviable notoriety of being the country in which bribery was reduced to a regular and continuous, though covert, system. The Earl of Dundonald mentions in his autobiography that when he offered himself as a candidate for Honiton he was barefacedly told by one of the electors that he always voted for " Mister Most," and, not choosing to bribe, he lost the election. Immense sums of money in this way have been expended at contested elections. Even the vote by ballot has not averted this corrupt form of influence. The Corrupt Practices in Elections Act (Municipalities) declares the guilty person to be for ever disabled from voting at other municipal elections, and also from holding any office or franchise in the borough. It applies also to parliamentary elections. Christmas Box.—A small money gift to employes and others on the day after Christmas, hence popularly called Boxing Day. The term, and also the custom, are essentially English and of great antiquity. It became a serious social nuisance in London particularly, where shopkeepers were expected to make presents to the male and female servants of their customers, till eventually tradesmen stuck up notices in their windows that no Christmas-boxes Would be given. Government issued a circular requesting a discontinuance of the customary gifts to Government servants. Since then the practice has greatly decreased, to the increased self-respect doubtless of the parties formerly interested. Ingrain Color. The term "ingrain" is applied in commerce to fabrics dyed with a particularly durable or " fast " shade of scarlet. The process of dyeing is so costly, that " ingrain colors " are always quoted at an advance upon the price of "common colors." The origin of the term is of great antiquity. Granum in Latin signifies a seed, and it was early applied to all minute ■objects in the same way as we now say <( grains of sand." Ths small insect coccus, which produces the beautiful red dye, is called in Latin granum, from its similarity to small seeds. This became graine in French, and grain in English. Grain, therefore, as a coloring matter, is the dye from the coccus of kcrmes insect, and " ingrain" is an abbreviation of the phrase " dyed in grain." Shakespearo uses this phrase in " Tho Comedy of Errors," act Hi., scene 2, where, in reply to an observation of Antipholus, " That's a fault that water will mend," Dromio replies, " No, sir, 'tis ingrain; Noah's flood could not do it." The term is also to be found in the " Twelfth Night," act i., scene s—" 'Tis in grain, sir; 'twill endure wind and weather."

Joseph Bramah, the eminent practical machinist, and inventor of the lock which takes his name, was the son of a Yorkshire farmer, and early exhibited an unsual talent for mechanics. Incapacitated by accidental lameness from carrying out agricultural pursuits, he was apprenticed to a carpenter and joiner. Subsequently he established himself in business in London, and became distinguished for the number, value, and ingenuity of his mechanical inventions, such as safety-locks, improvements in pumps and fire-engines, in the construction of boilers for steam engines, in the process of making paper, and many other inventions. He constructed the hydrostatic press known by his name. In all he took out about twenty patmts. Kermadeo Islands.—ln Spry's narrative of the 'Cruise of fI.M.S. Challenger,' the following description of these islands, now being annexed to New Zealand, may prove of some interest to readers of the STAR: — " On the 13th July passed within a short distance of a dangerous reef, indicated on the charts as Esperanza Rock, and at daylight the following morning Raoul or Sunday Island, one of the Kermadec group, was in sight. Admiral d'Entrecasteaux, with the vessels of a French surveying expedition, first made known the existence of theso islands to the civilised world in 1793. They consist of a cluster of d ingorous rocky islets, which are rather to be avoided than approached, owing to their hidden reefs. The largest of them—Sunday Island—is only some twelve miles in circumferance. Its highest point, rising to a height of 1,627 ft above the level of the sea, presents a rugged and steep appearance. Until recently an American family was living here, earning a very precarious livelihood by supplying calling vessels with poultry and vegetables; but the frequency of earthquakes, storms, and a sudden eruption of the volcano forced them to abandon it. The other islands, named Curtis and Macaulay, are not more than 800 ft above sea-level, and only from one mile to three miles in extent. It was decided not to land; but the day was given up to trawling from a depth of 600 fathoms, the rich ground yielding some very fine sponges about 2ft square, tinged a pretty crimson, etc., etc., somo new fish, the largest macrouns yet caught, pieces of red coral, crustaceas of the finest red color, and a lot of pretty red shells; in fact, a day to be marked with a white stone. The next was again successful, and from a depth of 660 fathoms the number of crinoids and fish caught was very great." Qui Vive ? is the challenge of a French military sentinel. Literally "Who lives? but it is equivalent to the English "Who goes there?" To be on the qui vive means, therefore, to be on the alert, or to keep a sharp look out, as a sentinel does.