A correspondent directs our attention to the fact that “foolscap,” concerning which a question was lately answered in “Study and Studio,” is a corruption of the Italian foglio-capo, a folio-sized sheet. The error is an ancient one, for from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century the water mark of this size paper was a fool’s head with cap and bells.
B. E. M.—1. We are constantly mentioning Reading Societies in this column. Try the National Home Reading Union, Surrey House, Victoria Embankment, London, or write to Mrs. Walker, Litlington Rectory, Berwick, Sussex.—2. Do not try or wish to “become pale.” Sufficient exercise, and strict attention to clothing and diet, are the best cure for a faulty circulation.
A Lincolnshire Girl.—1. The lines you quote,
“Howe’er it be, it seems to me
’Tis only noble to be good,”
are certainly by Tennyson, from the poem “Lady Clara Vere de Vere.”—2. The allusion,
“Her who clasped in her last trance
Her murdered father’s head,”
is to Margaret Roper, the daughter of Sir Thomas More. This devoted daughter obtained possession of her father’s head after his execution, kept it in a leaden casket, and left directions that it should be buried with her. For the whole story, see The Girl’s Own Paper for February, 1898, where we answered the question at length.
Bluebottle.—The reference you quote is probably Professor E. Curtius, a distinguished German authority on etymology.