283. To what does the phrase “fitting to a T” refer?
This phrase refers to the T or Tee Square, an instrument used in drawing and mechanics; so called from its resemblance to a capital T.
284. What well-known hymn was composed in a few minutes?
The celebrated hymn, “From Greeland’s icy mountains,” etc., was composed at Wrexham in 1819. On Whitsunday in that year Dr. Shipley, Dean of St. Asaph and Vicar of Wrexham, preached a sermon in his church on behalf of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. Heber was son-in-law to Dr. Shipley and was on a visit. The doctor on the previous Saturday asked Heber to “write something for them to sing in the morning,” and in a few minutes, without leaving the room, Heber produced the hymn now so well known all over the world. He was then in his thirty-sixth year, and was rector of Hodnet.
285. Why was the magnet so called?
The word “magnet” is derived from the name of the city of Magnesia, in Asia Minor, where the properties of the loadstone are said to have been discovered. So far one authority. Another derives it from the name of Magnes, a shepherd, who is said to have discovered the magnetic power through being detained on Mount Ida by the magnetism of the mountain attracting the nails in his shoes, so that he was unable to move from the spot.
286. What was the “Vinegar Bible”?
This was a name given to an edition of the Bible, published in 1717 at the Clarendon Press, Oxford. By a ludicrous misprint, the title of the twentieth chapter of Luke was made to read “Parable of the Vinegar” instead of “Parable of the Vineyard”; hence the name.
287. What were the “Breeches Bibles”?
This name was given to editions of the so-called Genevan Bible (first printed at Geneva, by Rowland Hall, 1560, in 4to), from the peculiar rendering of Gen. iii. 7.