"The fearful are in the forlorn of those that march for hell."
See Rev. xxi. 8., where "the fearful and unbelieving" stand at the head of the list of those who "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone."
H. T. G.
Hull.
The true origin and meaning of forlorn hope has no doubt been fully explained in "N & Q.," Vol. viii., p. 569. Richardson's Dictionary does not countenance this view, but his example proves it conclusively. He only gives one quotation, from North's Plutarch; and as it stands in the dictionary, it is not easy to comprehend the passage entirely. On comparing it, however, with the corresponding passage in Langhorne (Valpy's edition, vol. iii. p. 97.), and again with Pompei's Italian version (vol. iii. p. 49.), I have no doubt that, by the term forlorn hope, North implied merely an advanced party; for as he is describing a pitched battle and not a siege, a modern forlorn hope would be strangely out of place.
Is enfans perdus the idiomatic French equivalent, or is it only dictionary-French? And what is the German or the Italian expression?
R. Cary Barnard.
Malta.
Thornton Abbey (Vol. viii., p. 469.).—In the Archæological Journal, vol. ii. p. 357., may be found not only an historical and architectural account of this building, but several views; with architectural details of mouldings, &c.
H. T. G.