Minor Queries with Answers.

Hogmanay.—This word, applied in Scotland to the last day of the year, is derived by Jamieson (I believe, but have not his Dictionary to refer to) from the Greek ἁγία μήνη.

Can any of your correspondents north of the Tweed, or elsewhere, give the correct source?

W. T. M.

Hong Kong.

[Our correspondent is probably not aware that Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, vol. i. pp. 457-461. (Bohn's edit.), has devoted a chapter to this term. Among other conjectural etymologies he adds the following: "We read in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed, that it is ordinary among some plebeians in the South of Scotland to go about from door to door on New Year's Eve, crying Hagmena, a corrupted word from the Greek αγια μηνη i. e. holy month. John Dixon, holding forth against this custom once, in a sermon at Kelso, says: 'Sirs, do you know what hagmane signifies? It is, the devil be in the house! that's the meaning of its Hebrew original,' p. 102. Bourne agrees in the derivation of Hagmena given in the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence Displayed. 'Angli,' says Hospinian, 'Haleg-monath, quasi sacrum mensem vocant.' De Origine Ethn., p. 81." See also an ingenious essay on Hagmena in the Caledonian Mercury for Jan. 2, 1792, from which the most important parts have been extracted by Dr. Jamieson in his art. "Hogmanay.">[

Longfellow's "Hyperion."—Can any of your readers tell me why that magnificent work of Longfellow's, which though in prose contains more real poetry than nine-tenths of the volumes of verse now published, is called Hyperion?

Mordan Gillott.

[Hyperion is an epithet applied to Apollo, and is used by Shakspeare, Hamlet, Act I. Sc. 2.:

"Hyperion to a satyr."

Warburton says, "This similitude at first sight seems to be a little far-fetched, but it has an exquisite beauty. By the satyr is meant Pan, as by Hyperion Apollo. Pan and Apollo were brothers, and the allusion is to the contention between those gods for the preference in music." Steevens, on the other hand, believes that Shakspeare "has no allusion in the present instance, except to the beauty of Apollo, and its immediate opposite, the deformity of a satyr." Hyperion or Apollo is represented in all the ancient statues as exquisitely beautiful, the satyrs hideously ugly.]

Sir Hugh Myddelton.—Where was Sir Hugh Myddleton buried? and has a monument been erected to his memory? I have searched several encyclopædias and other works, but they make no mention of his place of sepulture.

Hughson, I think, states it to be St. Matthew's, Friday Street; but I believe this is not correct.

J. O. W.

[There is a statue of Sir Hugh Myddelton, by Carew, in the New Royal Exchange. See Cunningham's Handbook of London, from which work we learn (p. 327.) that "the register of St. Matthew's, Friday Street, abounds in entries relating to the family of Sir Hugh Myddleton." Cunningham does not mention his burial-place; but in the pedigree of the family given in Lewis's History of Islington, it is stated that he was buried in the churchyard of St. Matthew, London.]

Sangarede.—The expression "sangarede," or "sangared," occurs in two ancient wills, one dated 1504, in which the testator bequeathed—

"To the sepulkyr lyght vi hyves of beene to pray ffor me and my wyffe in y^e comon sangered."—Lib. Fuller, f. 70.

In the other, dated 1515, this passage occurs:

"I wyll y^t Ione my wyff here a yeere daye for me yeerly terme of her lyfe in the church of Mendlshm, and after here decesse y^e towne of Mendelyshm here a sangarede for me and my wyfe in the church of Mendlshm perpetually."

I should be much obliged if you or one of your correspondents could furnish me with an intimation of the meaning of the term.

Laicus.

[Sangared, i. e. the chantry, or chanting, from the Saxon sangere, a singer.]

Salubrity of Hallsal, near Ormskirk, Lancashire.—Between the 19th of February and the 14th of

May, 1800, ten persons died in this parish whose ages, as recorded on their tombs in the order of their departure, were 74, 84, 37, 70, 84, 70, 72, 62, 80, 90. This year must have been a fatal one to old people. Can any of the correspondents of "N. & Q." tell anything about the season?

W. J.

Bootle.

[The beginning of the year 1800 was unusually severe; in February, ice covered the ground so completely, that people skaited through the streets and roads; and in March, easterly winds prevailed with extraordinary violence. For the verification of these facts, consult the Meteorological diaries in the Gentleman's Magazine of the above period.]

Athens.—What is the origin of the term "violet-crowned city," as applied to Athens? Macaulay uses the expression in his History of England, but does not state how it was acquired.

E. A. T.

[The ancient Greeks and Romans, at their festive entertainments, wore garlands of flowers, and the violet was the favourite of the Athenians, than whom no people were more devoted to mirth, conviviality, and sensual pleasure. Hence the epithet was also given to Venus, Κύπρις ἰοστέφανος, as in some verses recorded by Plutarch, in his Life of Solon. Aristophanes twice applies the word to his sybarite countrymen: Equites, v. 1323., and Acarn. i. 637.]

James Miller.—Who was Miller, mentioned by Warburton as a writer of farces about 1735?

I. R. R.

[James Miller, a political and dramatic writer, was born in Dorsetshire in 1703. He received his education at Wadham College, Oxford; and while at the university, wrote a satiric piece called The Humours of Oxford, which created him many enemies, and hindered his preferment. He also published several political pamphlets against Sir Robert Walpole; and also the tragedy of Mahomet, and other plays. He died in 1744.]