386
NOTES AND QUERIES. 19 th s. VIL MAY is, ion.
sages that could be cited from 'Selimus ' and
Marlowe's works. .
I claim that 'Selimus' is by Christopher Marlowe, and not by Robert Greene ; and 1 humbly suggest that it is Marlowe's first play, and was immediately followed by The First Part of Tamburlaine.'
In conclusion, I have to add that, although I did not know it until after I had made out the relation between ' Selimus ' and ' Locrine, that relation had been discovered by Mr. Daniel, who announced it in the Athenwum of 16 April, 1898. Moreover, Mr. Churton Collins knew that both 4 Locrine ' and ' Seli- mus ' were indebted to Spenser, and he deals with the matter in his work on Greene, written eighteen months ago, but not yet issued from the Clarendon Press. I have not seen Mr. Collins's evidence, nor have I ever had access to Mr. Daniel's note in the Athenceum. Nobody, however, seems to have ever thought of Marlowe as the author of
- Selimus 'a fact which strikes me as being
very strange. CHARLES CEAWFORD.
53, Hampden Road, Hornsey, N.
" KINKAJOU." This zoological term has always been more or less of a puzzle to lexi- cographers, French as well as English. Littre gives it without etymology. Webster says it is the " native American name," which is safe, but vague. The 'Century Dictionary' calls it South American, which is incorrect, though the term is at present confined to a South American mammal. The only precise statement is that of the l Encyclopaedic Dic- tionary,' viz., that it is from u carcajou, the native name." As no authority is quoted, this is probably a mere guess, but it afforded me a starting-point for investigation ; and from the evidence which I have collected it appears to be actually not far from the truth. The first thing to do was obviously to find how the word was used in old works of travel. After some search, I came upon the ' Histoire Naturelle de 1'Amerique Septentrionale,' by Nicolas Denys, 1672. Vol. ii. chap. xxi. gives a full account of the quincajou, as this writer spells it (p. 328, " Les renarcls et le quincajou font la chasse ensemble," &c.). This proved that in the seventeenth century it was looked upon as Canadian. My next step was to ascertain whether any trace of it remained in the languages of the Canadian Indians of to- day. Bishop Baraga's ' Otchipwe Dictionary, 1878, gave me " (hoingwaage, wolverine, car- cajou.'* Similarly, Cuoq's 'Lexique Algonquin, 1886, has " Kwinr/waage, carcajou, en anglais wolverine." A riddle of long standing is thus solved, in time, I hope, for the forthcoming
^olume of the 'N.E.D.' Kinkajou is a
'doublet" of carcajou. Originally both
names were applied to the wolverine, but
n the eighteenth century Buffon detached
cinkajou, and his successors have confirmed
lis regrettable transfer of this North Ameri-
- an name to a South American quadruped.
JAS. PLATT, Jun.
" WE DON'T WANT TO FIGHT, BUT BY JINGO
F WE DO." The death of "the Great" Mac-
derrnott, the singer of this song, so popular
at the music-halls in the late seventies,
deserves a note. The song, it will be remem-
Dered, was intended as a laudation of the
policy of Lord Beaconsfield, and was trans-
ated into almost every European language,
ncluding that of Russia. The author was
Mr. G. W. Hunt, "the Kipling of the halls."
[ believe it is generally recognized that Mr.
George Jacob Holyoake originated the name
of Jingo as a term of reproach to those who
supported the late statesman's conduct of
? oreign affairs. N. S. S.
[See 8 th S. iii. 228, 334; vi. 51, 74, 149, 312,373; vii. 10, 232.]
' LABILITY." This word occurs as early as 1554. In a translation of that date of a Latin petition, in the third ' Miscellany ' of the Mait- and Club, p. 65, we find among the considera- tions alleged by the petitioners the words :
The lability and breuitie of tymes maneris and of men in this wale of teiris beand con- siderit." It is pleasing to see^ that "this
ale" is a phrase that did not originate with a nineteenth-century novelist. Q. V.
[The earliest quotation in the ' H.E.D.' is 1646.]
HOGARTH'S HOUSE, CHISWICK. Hogarth's house is, it appears, about to be pulled down, and the site, together with the garden (which contains nearly an acre), occupied by flats. The house, which is well known from the illustrations which have appeared from time to time, is a good specimen of the art of the early Georgian period, and is well worthy of preservation. A subscription has been set on foot with that object, but in view of the value of the land it is extremely doubtful whether sufficient money will be raised to save the house from destruction.
There seems no doubt that the house was inhabited by Hogarth, but the suggestion that it was previously occupied by Sir James Thornhill appears without foundation. The house was for a short time in the occupation of the Rev. H. F. Gary, M.A. (1772-1844), vicar of Abbots Bromley, Staffs, and trans- lator of Dante. In the memoir of Gary by his son it is stated ;
