He groans in anguish."—Autumn, 452.
"Steller relates this of the Phoca Ursina, Pallas of the camel, and Humboldt of a small American monkey."—Laurence On Man, Lond. 1844, p. 161.
Risibility, and a sense of the ridiculous, is generally considered to be the property of man, though Le Cat states that he has seen a chimpanzee laugh.
The notion with regard to a child crying at baptism has been already touched on in these pages, Vol. vi., p. 601.; Vol. vii., p. 96.
Grose (quoted in Brand) tells us there is a superstition that a child who does not cry when sprinkled in baptism will not live; and the same is recorded in Hone's Year-Book.
Eirionnach.
UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF LORD NELSON.
The following letter of Lord Nelson may, especially at the present moment, interest and amuse some of the readers of "N. & Q." The original is in my possession, and was given me by the late Miss Churchey of Brecon, daughter of the gentleman to whom it was addressed. Can any of your readers inform me where the "old lines" quoted by the great hero are to be found?
E. G. Bass.