Notes and Queries, Number 70, March 1, 1851: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc

In Short

This issue functions as an open print forum where Victorian intellectuals, antiquaries, and amateur bibliophiles exchange notes, submit queries, and offer solutions to historical or literary puzzles. The text moves rapidly between grand institutional proposals, detailed textual critiques of Shakespeare and Dryden, folk superstitions, local etymologies, and legal precedents. Readers write in to correct long-standing printing errors, trace the origins of obscure terms, or seek lost volumes. It has lasted as a vivid snapshot of nineteenth-century literary culture and as a testament to the power of shared, collaborative scholarship.

The Story

The issue opens with an ambitious proposal addressed directly to the literary men of England, urging them to establish a organized association divided into literary and business sections. This proposed group would hire adroit, adventurous field officers to conduct systematic historical and cultural investigations across the globe before future generations outpace them. From this grand vision, the publication shifts immediately into granular textual criticism. A contributor carefully evaluates the historical claims surrounding an Essay on Satire, systematically comparing eighteenth-century editions and contemporary testimonies to argue that the work should be purged from future collections of John Dryden’s poetry.

The focus then turns to practical theater history and classic literature. One note examines early oratorical venues in London, correcting modern handbooks regarding an actor's debating society in Covent Garden. Another contributor solves a persistent textual confusion in Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost, demonstrating that a simple printer's transposition of the female names Katharine and Rosaline instantly restores logical sense to the character descriptions and dialogue. Historical media also receives attention, with a note establishing the early publication dates of a seventeenth-century trade newspaper through its contemporary advertisements for unspiced chocolate.

As the issue progresses into minor notes and queries, the scope expands into natural history, popular custom, and theology. Contributors debate whether Harlequins originated from African slaves at the court of Attila, examine the early spelling of "mushroom," and record a Brazilian belief that a specific tree grows directly out of a dying cicada's back. Queries from readers pour in: inquiries into which Pope established December 25th as Christmas, the origin of regional proverbs in Suffolk, the legal validity of clandestine marriages, and the true etymology of the word "fib."

The latter portion of the issue provides answers to previously posed questions and documents historical legal precedents. One lengthier reply details a famous seventeenth-century court case in which sea captains swore they witnessed a deceased neighbor named Booty running into the volcanic flames of Stromboli. Another entry breaks down the historical usage of the phrase "post conquestum" in royal titles to distinguish monarchs named Edward after the Norman Conquest. The issue concludes with commercial notices, book sales, catalog listings, and queries for out-of-print volumes, closing the loop on a self-contained ecosystem of Victorian literary exchange.

How It Unfolds

The call to organize A contributor proposes a national association of literary and business minds to send hardy investigation parties across the globe. He argues that current generations must execute this research rather than leaving the work to their grandchildren.

Correcting the canon An editor re-examines the dubious attribution of a coarse satirical poem to John Dryden. By weighing conflicting eighteenth-century publishers and historical witnesses, he concludes the poem should be rejected from future editions of Dryden's works.

Untangling Shakespeare A scholar analyzes a long-standing textual error in Love’s Labour’s Lost. He proves that swapping the names of Rosaline and Katharine in Boyet's dialogue aligns the text perfectly with earlier character descriptions.

Queries and curiosities A wide array of letters introduces questions on church history, regional slang, early trade papers, and exotic natural phenomena. Correspondents ask about the origin of local sayings, early translations of Danish ballads, and the history of specialized German swords.

Precedents and resolutions Replies from readers resolve earlier inquiries regarding cardinal monuments, royal genealogical claims, and strange legal trials. The issue wraps up with publishers' advertisements, trade notices, and requests for rare, missing books.

The People

Because this issue is a collection of periodical submissions, its central figures are the contributors themselves—scholars, antiquaries, and everyday readers—along with the historical and literary subjects they analyze.

• Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie seeks to mobilize English scholars into a structured research entity. He wants to prevent future generations from outdoing the present age, but he must rely on the editor's space and public interest to move his proposal forward.
• Bolton Corney acts as a rigorous literary critic who wants to purify John Dryden's official poetical canon. He contends with decades of questionable publisher attributions and surreptitious printings, ultimately demonstrating that key evidence supporting Dryden's authorship relies on self-referential sources.
• A. G. B. seeks to repair a flawed line of Shakespearean dialogue. He faces centuries of editor oversight, successfully resolving the mystery by showing how a routine printer's transposition of female names created the error.
• Captain Barnaby and his crew feature in a cited legal precedent, seeking to defend themselves against a libel lawsuit brought by a widow. Confronted by a thousand-pound action, they rely on their sea logbooks and matching clothing details to prove they saw the deceased man run into a volcano.

In Its Own Voice

"Monstrous as the idea seems, it is simple of execution."

Kenneth Mackenzie introduces his sweeping plan to form organized literary investigation teams, acknowledging the ambition of his project while insisting on its practical feasibility.

"The completeness with which the idea of transposition not only accounts for the existence of the error, but at the same time suggests the manner in which it may be corrected, ought of itself to secure its reception..."

Contributor A. G. B. argues for his correction of Love's Labour's Lost, emphasizing how a logical fix reveals the printer's original mistake.

"I can vouch for the skin of the insect having been found with the tree growing out of its back, and the roots growing down through the legs."

Writing from Pernambuco, John Manley presents a strange natural observation, seeking a scientific explanation for a local Brazilian belief about cicadas and trees.

What It's Really About

At its core, the issue is about the democratization of scholarship and the collective preservation of knowledge. It operates on the belief that no single academic holds all the answers, but an open network of observant readers can solve complex historical, etymological, and literary problems.

Underneath the disparate questions lies a deep Victorian concern with precision and ordering the past. Whether determining the exact date a trade paper began selling chocolate, correcting royal lineage formulas like "post conquestum," or debating the physical mechanics of lightning rods for public buildings, the contributors share a impulse to catalog, verify, and correct the historical record. The text champions curiosity for its own sake, treating minor local proverbs and major classical translations with equal intellectual seriousness.

Why Read It Today

This publication offers a charming, unfiltered window into the Victorian mind. Reading it feels like stepping into a bustling nineteenth-century reading room or browsing an early offline version of a crowd-sourced reference site. The prose is brisk, polite, and uncompromisingly literate, filled with the excitement of individuals discovering forgotten facts in obscure archives.

The text does present distinct reading challenges. Because it is an unedited cross-section of a periodical, it lacks a single narrative voice or continuous plot line. Readers must navigate sudden jumps from Latin ecclesiastical canons to parish register notes, legal transcript extracts, and lists of wanted books. Period attitudes and archaic terminology appear naturally throughout the queries, alongside Latin and French citations left untranslated for the era's educated readership.

Yet, for readers who enjoy historical detective work, literary trivia, or the history of printing, this issue is a minor treasure. It captures the joy of shared learning and reminds us that human curiosity about obscure details remains remarkably unchanged across the centuries.