L.
Humbug (Vol. vii., pp. 550. 631.).—I do not remember any earlier use of this word than in Fielding's Amelia, 1751. Its origin is involved in obscurity: but may it not be a corruption of the Latin ambages, or the singular ablative ambage? which signifies quibbling, subterfuge, and that kind of conduct which is generally supposed to constitute humbug. It is very possible that it may have been pedantically introduced in the seventeenth century. May, in his translation of Lucan, uses the word ambages as an English word.
H. T. Riley.
A severe instance of the use of the term "humbug" occurred in a court of justice. A female in giving her evidence repeatedly used this term. In her severe cross-examination, the counsel (a very plain, if not an ugly person) observed she had frequently used the term humbug, and desired to know what she meant by it, and to
have an explanation; to which she replied, "Why, Sir, if I was to say you were a very handsome man, would you not think I was humbugging you?" The counsel sat down perfectly satisfied.
G. H. J.
Sir Isaac Newton and Voltaire on Railway Travelling (Vol. viii., p. 34.).—The passage in Daniel alluded to is probably the following:—"Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased," chap. xii. v. 4. Mr. Craig should send to your pages the exact words of Newton and Voltaire, with references to the books in which the passages may be found.
John Bruce.
Engine-à-verge (Vol. vii., p. 619.).—Is not this what we term a garden engine? The French vergier (viridarium) is doubtless so named, quia virgâ definita; and we have the old English word verge, a garden, from the same source.
H. C. K.