QUERIES ANSWERED, NO. 5.
A comparative statement of the number of those who ask questions, and those who furnish replies, would be a novel contribution to the statistics of literature. I do note mean to undertake it, but shall so far assume an excess on the side of the former class, as to attempt a triad of replies to recent queries without fear of the censures which attach to monopoly.
To facilitate reference to the queries, I take them in the order of publication:—
1. "What is the earliest known instance of the use of a beaver hat in England?"—T. Hudson Turner, p. 100.
The following instance from Chaucer (Canterbury tales, 1775, 8°. v. 272.), if not the earliest, is precise and instructive:
"A marchant was ther with a forked berd,
In mottelee, and highe on hors he sat,
And on his hed a Flaundrish bever hat."
2. "Has Cosmopoli been ever appropriated to any known locality?"—John Jebb, p. 213.
Cosmopolis has been used for London, and for Paris (G. Peignot, Répertoire de bibliographies spéciales, Paris, 1810. 8°. pp. 116, 132.) It may also, in accordance with its etymology, be used for Amsterdam, or Berlin, or Calcutta, etc. As an imprint, it takes the dative case. The Interpretationes paradoxæ quatuor evangeliorum of Sandius, were printed at Amsterdam. (M. Weiss, Biographie universelle, Paris, 1811 28. 8°. xl. 312.)
3. References to "any works or treatises supplying information on the history of the Arabic numerals" are requested by "E.N." p. 230.
To the well chosen works enumberated by the querist, I shall add the titles of two valuable publications in my own collection:
DICTIONNAIRE RAISONNÉ DE DIPLOMATIQUE—par dom de Vaines. Paris, 1774. 8°. 2 vol.
ELÉMENTS DE PALÉOGRAPHIE, par M. Natalis de Wailly. Paris, Imprimerie royale, 1838. 4°. 2 vol.
The former work is a convenient epitome of the Nouveau traité de diplomatique. The latter is a new compilation, undertaken with the sanction of M. Guizot. Its appearance was thus hailed by the learned Daunou: "Cet ouvrage nous semble recommandable par l'exactitude des recherches, par la distribution méthodique des matières et par l'élégante précision du style." (Journal des savants, Paris, 1838. 4°. p. 328.)
A query should always be worded with care, and put in a quotable shape. The observance of this plain rule would economise space, save the time which might otherwise be occupied in useless research, and tend to produce more pertinency of reply. The first and second of the above queries may serve as models.
Bolton Corney.