Etymology of "Page" (Vol. ix., p. 106.).—Paggio Italian, page French and Spanish, pagi Provençal, is derived by Diez, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Romanischen Sprachen (Bonn, 1853), p. 249., from the Greek παιδίον. This derivation is evidently the true one. I may take this opportunity of recommending the above-cited work to all persons who feel an interest in the etymology of the Romance languages. It is not only more scientific and learned, but more comprehensive, than any other work of the kind.
L.
Longfellow (Vol. ix., p. 174.).—There was a family of the name of Longfellow resident in Brecon, South Wales, about fifty or sixty years ago, who were large landowners in the county; and one of them (Tom Longfellow, alluded to in the lines below) kept the principal inn, "The Golden Lion," in that town. His son occupied a farm a few miles from Brecon, about thirty years ago; and two of his sisters resided in the town. The family was frequently engaged in law suits (perhaps from the proverbially litigious disposition
of their Welsh neighbours), and was ultimately ruined. Many of the old inhabitants of that part of the Principality could, no doubt, give a better and fuller account of them.
The following lines (not very flattering to the landlord, certainly), said to have been written by a commercial traveller on an inside-window shutter of "The Golden Lion," when Mr. Longfellow was the proprietor, may not be out of place in "N. & Q.:"
"Tom Longfellow's name is most justly his due,
Long his neck, long his bill, which is very long too;
Long the time ere your horse to the stable is led,
Long before he's rubbed down, and much longer till fed;
Long indeed may you sit in a comfortless room,