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Page 21
During the progress of my work, the old fellow made the following
observation:--
"Old Nannie Hawkins have got a big stick o' wood, and she says as I
shall have him for eight pence. If I could get him, I'd soon
_mocker_ him."
Upon my asking him the meaning of the word _mocker_, he informed me it
meant to _divide_ or _cleave in pieces;_ but, not being "a scholar" as
he termed it, he could not tell me how to spell it, so I know not
whether the orthography I have adopted is correct or not.
Can any of your readers give me a clue to the derivation of this word? I
certainly never heard it before.
I ought perhaps to state, that this is a country parish in
Herefordshire.
W.M.
Pembridge, Dec. 16.
_"Away, let nought to love displeasing"._--Is it known who was the
author of the song to be found in Percy's _Reliques_, and many other
collections, beginning--
"Away, let nought to love displeasing."
The first collection, so far as I know, in which it appears is entitled
_Miscellaneous Poems by several Hands_, published by D. Lewis, London,
1726; and in this work it is called a translation from the ancient
British. Does this mean a translation of an ancient poem, or a
translation of a poem written in some extant dialect of the language
anciently spoken in Britain? Either would appear to me incredible.
As I feel much interested in the poetry of English songs, can you or any
of your correspondents inform me if there exists any _good_ collection;
that is, a collection, of such only as are excellent of their respective
kinds? That the English language possesses materials for forming such a
collection, and an extensive one too, I have no doubt, though I have
never met with one. And, if there be none that answers the description I
give, I should be glad of information respecting the best that exist.
It is scarcely necessary to add, that my standard of excellence would
admit only those which bore the character of "immortal verse," rejecting
such as had been saved merely by the music to which they had been
"married."
SAMUEL HICKSON.
Dec. 14. 1850.
_Baron M�nchausen._--Who was the author of this renowned hero's
adventures? The _Conversations-Lexicon_ (art. _M�nchausen_) states that
the stories are to be found under the title of "Mendacia Ridicula," in
vol. iii. of _Delici� Academic�_, by J.P. Lange (Heilbronn, 1665); and
that "at a later period they appeared in England, where a reviewer
supposed them to be a satire on the ministry." I remember to have read
when a boy (I think in _The Percy Anecdotes_), that the book was written
by an Englishman who was styled "M----," and was described as having
been long a prisoner in the Bastille.
Since writing thus far I have seen the note by J.S. (Vol. ii., pp.
262-3.) on M�nchausen's story of the horn. The idea of sounds frozen in
the air, and thawed by returning warmth, was no invention of "Castilian,
in his _Aulicus_" (_i.e._ Castiglione, author of _Il Cortegiano_); for,
besides that, it is found in his contemporary Rabelais (liv. iv. cc.
55-6), I believe it may be traced to one of the later Greek writers,
from whom Bishop Taylor, in one of his sermons, borrows it as an
illustration.
J.C.R.
_"Sing Tantararara Rogues all," &c._--The above is the chorus of many
satirical songs written to expose the malpractices of peculators, &c.
Can any of your readers point out who was the author of the _original
song_, and where it is to be found?
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