—A Moiety.—There is a line in Locksley Hall which has always appeared to me a sad blemish in a fine poem, and which may, perhaps, puzzle posterity as much as any of those which have been illustrated by G. P. (Vol. iii., p. 319.) I allude to that in stanza 92.:
"Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay."
Posterity will easily learn that the Chinese cycle was just "sixty years," and will have some difficulty in believing that Tennyson should have rated the disparity between life in Europe and in China no higher than as six to five. It is evident that the poet used a "cycle" in the signification of a long period of years; but will posterity be able to find any authority for this use of the word? Can any one refer to a dictionary which explains it in that sense, or to any other good author who has so used it?
This use of the word "cycle" is associated in my mind with a use (or rather abuse) of the word "moiety," which prevails in the north of Ireland, and perhaps elsewhere. It properly signifies "one half," but many employ it in the sense of a very small portion. I hope no one will introduce it into poetry with this signification.
MATTER OF FACT.
Queries.
ETYMOLOGY OF FONTAINEBLEAU.
The Description Routière et Géographique de l'Empire Français, already cited by me on the subject of Bicêtre, furnishes the following particulars respecting the derivation of Fontainebleau:
"Ce bassin sert de décharge à la fontaine, qui a donné, dit-on, son nom à Fontainebleau. Elle est nommée, dans les anciennes chartes, Fons Blaudi. Quelques modernes substituent à cette étymologie celle de belle eau, d'où ils font également dériver Fontainebleau. L'une et l'autre sont rejetées par Expilly, et remplacées par une troisième de sa façon, qui est évidente, selon lui, et qui, selon ses lecteurs, est la plus absurde de toutes. Je vais citer ce passage pour faire sentir jusqu'à quel travers d'esprit peut conduire la manie des étymologies. 'Pourquoi,' dit-il, 'se donner la torture à ce sujet? Il suffit de la moindre notion de la chasse pour savoir que, quand le chasseur appelle les chiens, il crie: Thia hillaut! N'est-il pas vraisemblable que le château ayant été bâti en pays de chasse, les habitans des environs, entendant continuellement le mot hillaut, l'appellèrent de ce nom, auquel ils joignirent celui de la fontaine près de laquelle il avait été bâti. De Fontaine hillaut on fit insensiblement Fontainebleau.'"
TWO Queries suggest themselves here. Who or what was Blaudus or Blaudum? Is our Tally-ho derived from Thia hillaut, or vice versâ? As to the "travers d'esprit," so gravely imputed to Expilly, it is clear to me that his solution of the matter must be taken as a burlesque on etymologists, rather than as any evidence of his own extravagance in that respect.