NOTES AND QUERIES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 41

NOTES AND QUERIES.

Questions ft>r reply in coming issue to be received net later than MONDAY niglU.

Tknkyson anr Buens.— "Ayrshire" writes.— No famous poet has been so much charged with plagiarism as the late Lord Tennyson. A writer m the Quarterly Review points out striking similarities between Vngil and Tennyson, and the poet knew his Virgil well. Tien Tennyson cribbed his famous lines, " 'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all," from Robbie Burna's tender address to Jessie Lewers, the steadfast friend of his declining days, under the title "A Health to Ane I Loe Dear'": Altho' thou maun never be mine, Altho' even hope is denied , 'Tis sweeter for thee despairing Than aught m the world beside. Peihap3 this anecdote may be new to some of your readers. A genial and witty Glasgow bailhe one morning had a discrdeily called under the- name of Jean Armour to stand forth and bs charged. The name touched the magistrate's imagination at once, and gave him pain. Ho could not think, he said, to sentence one with the name of Robbie Burns's lass, a-nd thereioie %,-ould dismiss the accused -With a caunon. On letirmg the astonished culprit vehemently thanked the judge, and exclaimed, "My certy, Hobbie Euriis has done me a. gude turn^this time!" Professor Gregory, of the Edinburgh University, presented Burns with a •\ online of "Cicero's Select Oretions, and the Doet -wrote on the fly-leaf these words- "This "oook, a present from the truly worthy Dr Gregory, I shall preserve to my latest hour as a naik of the giatitude, esteem, and \eneration I bear to the uoior. So help me, God." Lord Tennyson's Crossing the Bar" similarly had been used previously over and over again. Ca.nnibausj£ in Scotland. — Myles Campbell -\* writes in ,ieply to " Pomahaka Dowas " in " Notes aidC-Queries " as to -when estimibahsm occurren m Scotland m recent times . — Sir E-wen Cameron, of Lochiel, was bom in 1629. He was a famous cava'ier in his time, and while yet in his teens he fought and bled for Charles I. He -wag the last man who upheld th& royal cause. This brought him under the ban of the Government, who placed a strong garrison at Invexlochy, :n the centre of the Cameron country, "^'lth this garrison might ■was right, and they helped themselves heely ;o what they required and what the country }-rovided them with, especially to the timber ior building and fuel. Sir Ewen demanded comnsn=ation, which the governor of the garrison refused to pay. This le^. to the first skirmish which took place at Strone Nevis. A few days subsequent to this the governor despatched 300 men to lay waste the lands of Lochiel. Sir Ewen attacked them at Achdalen with equal fury, and at the head of his Camerons he cut them to pieces. In the retreat of the English, says Pc inant's "Tour," "one of the strongest and bravest officers retired behind a bush. whenw hen ho observe^ Lochiel, fceemg him unaccompanied by any, he leaped out, and thought him an easy prey. The combat was long and doubtful. The English officer had by far the greater advantage -n strength and 'size, but Lochiel excelled him in nimbleness and agi'ity, and in the end tripped the swoid out of his hand. They closed and wrestled till they fell to the ground in each other's arms. The English officer got above Lochiel and pressed him hard, but stretching forth his neck attempting to disengage himself, Lochiel, who by this time had his hands at liberty, seized him by the collar, and, .lumping at his extended throat, he b*t it with his teeth quite through, and kept such hold of his grasp that he brought away his mou+hful. This, he said, wa3 the sweetest morsel he ever tasted." Thie took place "bout 1619, and not in 1746, fB Mr J. Cameron, in your last issue, puts it. For Mr Cameron's information, with you'- permission, I may mention thai this warrior was knighted by Charles 11, and the last pitn'aed battle in which he took part in was at.Kilhecrankie. 1639, where he commanded rs lieutenant-general under Lord Dundee, when the latter fell victorious oi Rponrori's blood-stained heather. Sir Ewen Cameion, of Lochiel, died in 1719, or 27 years before Culloden. The chief of the 45 vps pocularly known as ' the gentle Lochiel." He was the first of the Hiehland chiefs to jem the standard of Prince Charles Edward. This he did with 700 Camerons at Glenfinin or the 19th August, 1745. ' Come weal, come woe, I'll follow thee," a promise h->. faithfully performed from the route on Preston Brre till the day of Black Culloden, when the Prince's army melted away, and, like many more of the adheients of the Bonnie Prince, the gentle Lochiel of 45 found a grave in France. E. B. G. — Mr J. A. Miller, Arrowtown. kindly replies to your question: — You do not state the width of your iron box. Mr (jeikie, in his "Geology." states cases of stieams mo\ing gravel. From these statements it would seem that a box 2ft wide, with three Government heads, would shift three ciibic yaids per hour. The fall— 3m per chain— is co low that the gravel must be rich to pay. Withm a certain limit, the wider the box the more grp-vel can you treat m a given time with a given head of water. Much also depends upon the nature of the giavel, whether round or flattened, light or heavy, etc. H. D. o.— The marguerite you send is the common gowan— Belhs perennis. Ikqutbeb.— Write to Mr Piyde, secret-try to the Education Board, who will supply you with all necessary information. Colonus writes.— De Wet being apparently a. German or Dutch name, I think it should be pronounced De Vet, as W is pronounced V in German. It is very generally so pronounced. Old Boy writes —Can any of your leaders enlighten me as to the origin or meaning of the very common school vord now used — "Bonse" or "Bonser." Be it a large apple <H ft good Btioke at tennis, "Oh, that's a

bonser'" we hear at once. Has it anything to do with "Bonanza" ' ; By the way, what was the origin of that? — The Spanish meaning of bonanza is fair weather at sea, prosperity, success. As used m the Southern States of America it means a mine of wealth, a profitable thing — good luck. - 1 Pitman. — A shorthand-writers' association is just being formed in Dunedm, but it would not benefit you in. any way to join it unless you could arrange to attend its meetings. The Phonographic Magazine and Typewriting News, published m Dunedm (address care of P.O. Box 360), is the only shorthand magazine published m Australasia. The subscription is 6s per annum.