But enough for the present. I should esteem it a favour if your correspondent would inform me where these curious terms are found, as the context would greatly facilitate their elucidation.
ALBERT WAY.
Wonham, Reigate, August 3.
Replies to Minor Queries.
Solingen (Vol. ii., p. 135.).—Will you allow me to state, for the information of T.S. LAWRENCE, who inquires who Salingen, the sword cutler, was,—that Solingen is the name of a small town near Elberfeld, in Westphalia; a sort of Sheffield for the whole of that part of Germany. Immense quantities of cutlery of all sorts are made there, and many knives are, I was told, made there, stamped with English names, and imported into England as true British ware,—being equally good with ours, and, of course, cheaper. Solingen is still, and has been for centuries, renowned for its sword blades. You cannot ride through the town without meeting a troop or two of girls with a load of sword blades on their heads.
May I suggest to your inquirer JARLTZBERG that the derivation of blackguard is as likely to be blagarode, the Russian for nobleman, as many words are to be descended from their reputed parents.
C.B.M.
P.C.S.S. believes that a little research would have enabled MR. LAWRENCE (Vol. ii., p. 135.) to ascertain that Solingen (not Salingen) was not the name of a sword cutler, but of a place in Prussian Westphalia, long celebrated for the fabrication of that weapon, as well as of fencing-foils. Of the latter instrument P.C.S.S. has several pairs in his possession, all marked with the inscription "In Solingen." That the Solingen manufactory still flourishes there, is stated in Murray's Handbook for Northern Germany, p. 373.
P.C.S.S.