St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-05
round his own knee. saving as he did so,

round his own knee, saying as ne did so,
..Ro'ti soft qad mai q perse"
Robert Browning, in his poem on "A Blot
on the 'Scutheon,'' refers to the accident
which befen the lovely Countess in the fol-
lowing lines:
The earl's greatest of all grandmothers
Was grander daughter still to that fair
dame.
Whose garter slipped down at the famous
ball.
Fits and Starts.-Said of man that is I'M
steady, vacillating, tickle and erratic. VIM.
Collins, Q786-1756) has this line in 'sThe
Passion'':
Twas sad by fits, by starts twas Wild.
In the poem of "Absalom,'' by Dryden,
occurs the following:
a man so various, that he SEEM to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome.
Still in opinions, always in the wrong,
Was everything by starts and nothing long,
But in the course of one revolving moon,
Was chymisJ fiddler, statesman and buffoon.
Mab.-The name given by the English
poets of the fifteenth and succeeding centu-
ries to the imaginary queen of the fairies.
Shakespeare has given a famous description
of Queen Nab in Romeo and Juliet, act 1,
scene 4. The origin of the name is obscure.
By some it is derived from the Midgard of
the Eddas.
Young England.-A collective designa-
ton given some thirty years ago to num-
Der OF persons of rank and character, in
England, who were engaged in social
movement having for its aim the revival of
the manners Of medieval times, which they
held to have been greatly injured by the
growth Of a commercial spirit among the
higher classes. Their cry was:
Let wealth and commerce, laws and learn
ing die,
But give US back our nobility.
-[LoRD JOHN MANNERS.
Sober Second Thoughtful was Martin
Van Buren, who said:
''The sober second thought is always es-
sential, and seldom wrong"
The expression, ''Sober second thought
has more ancient origin, however. In
Matthew Henry's Q662-1714) Exposition Job
vi. 30, occurs the following:
ITO their own second and sober thoughts"
Euripides, in ''Hippolytus," has: "Among
mortals second thoughts are the wisest;'
and Fisher Ames, in his "Speech on Bienni-
al Elections,n Q7S) uttered this sentence:
II consider biennial elections as a security
that the sober second thought OF the people
shall be law.'
Gates Of the Occult Scences.-The forty,
or as some say forty-eight books on magic in
Arabic. The first twelve teach the art of
sorcery and enchantment, the thirteenth
teaches how to disenchant and restore bodies
to their realistic state again. complete
set was always kept in the Dom-Daniel or
school for magic in Tnnis.
Genius and Common Sense.-Thomas
Moore says that Common Sense and Genius
once went out together on a ramble by moon
light. Common Sense went pressing on his
way, arrived home in good time, and went
to bed; but Genius, while gazing at the stars
stumbled into river and died.
Hobby. Horse.-A corruption of hoJ5y-hause
(''hawk-tossing'') favorite diversion in En-
gland in the days of falconry. The term has
become COMPOUNDED with the wicked hobby
house, in which some one, being placed,
was unable to take part in a morris dance.
Platform.-The American use of this
word in the sense of political plan, scheme
or design, is justified by ancient use in En-
gland. In Lyly's "Alex. and Carup," act
", scene 4, Appelles is asked, 'What piece
of work have you now in hand?'' to which
he replies. ''None in hand, if it like your
Mejastie, but am devising platforme in
my head'' And in the Discovery of the
New World,' quoted by Mares, ''To pro-
cure himself a pardon went and discovered
the whole platforme of the conspirasie." A
very early example occurs in the following
title of a tract in the library of Queens Col
80 Al
ed Holy Discipline faithfully gathered by way
of Historical Narration out Of the works and
writings of the principal favourers of that
Platforme, 4to, London, 1893" Another
example is in Patriclxs Paradise of the
speaking of persons changing their sect, the
wherein he was, and become religious after
the manner Of this novel PLATFORM
Mister.-At time when men were gener-
ally called by their Christian and surnames
only, the word mister was probably applied as
sort of title to those who had learned nys-
terry or trade, and who would perhaps be
| looked upon as of higher rank or position
than mere laborers or husbandmen. The
question so often met with in old writer's,
| ''What Mister Wight is that?'' meaning what
| - GudL uudu culplOyueub anu consequent
| condition in life? seems to favor this view.
Smart, however, is inclined to the belief that
mister was adopted, or at least promoted for
the sake ofaralogy with mistress; ''for mis-
tress, among our old writers, often had the
| form of mastress in or to suit with master,
| which was then used where we now find
| 'mister."' And Walker says: "The same
| process of change which has corrupted mas
ter into mister has, when it is a title Of civil
| ity only, contracted mistress into missis.
Thus Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Carter, ETC., are
pronounced Missis Montague, Missis Carter,
etc. To pronounce the word as it is written
would in these cases appear quaint and pc
dantic'' A curious instance Of the incon-
gruous way, says Mr. Edwards, in which the
title Mister and Esquire are sometimes used
occurred at the time when the corporation of
Stratford-on-Avon resolved to present the
| freedom of that town to Garrick. Their res
olution declares that this was done Through
love and regard to the memory the immor-
tai Mr.. William Shakespeare, and acknowl-
edgment of the extraordinary merits Of his
most distinguished representative, David
Garrick, Esquire"
| Taofra hoe orloua or6 rnittap foofo-