W. C. Trevelyan.
Wallington.
Sotades (Vol. vii., p. 417.).—Sotades is the supposed inventor of Palindromic verses (see Mr. Sands' Specimens of Macaronic Poetry, p. 5., 1831. His enigma on "Madam" was written by Miss Ritson of Lowestoft).
S. Z. Z. S.
The Letter "h" in "humble" (Vol. viii., p. 54).—The question has been raised by one of your correspondents (and I have not observed any reply thereto), as to whether it is a peculiarity of Londoners to pronounce the h in humble. If, as a Londoner by birth and residence, I might be allowed to answer the Query, I should say that
the h is never heard in humble, except when the word is pronounced from the pulpit. I believe it to be one of those, either Oxford or Cambridge, or both, peculiarities, of which no reasonable explanation can be given.
I should be glad to hear whether any satisfactory general rule has been laid down as to when the h should be sounded, and when not. The only rule which occurs to me is to pronounce it in all words coming to us from the Celtic "stock," and to pass it unsounded in those which are of Latin origin. If this rule be admitted, the pronunciation sanctioned by the pulpit and Mr. Dickens is condemned.
Benjamin Dawson.
London.
Lord North (Vol. vii., p. 317. Vol. viii., p. 184.).—Is M. E. of Philadelphia laughing at us, when he refers us to a woodcut in some American pictorial publication on the American Revolution for a true portraiture of the figure and features of King George III.; different, I presume, from that which I gave you. His woodcut, he says, is taken "from an English engraving;" he does not tell us who either painter or engraver was—but no matter. We have hundreds of portraits by the best hands which confirm my description, which moreover was the result of personal observation: for, from the twentieth to the thirtieth years of my life, I had frequent and close opportunities of approaching his Majesty. I cannot but express my surprise that "N. & Q." should have given insertion to anything so absurd—to use the gentlest term—as M. E.'s appeal to his "woodcut."