Notes and Queries, Number 191, June 25, 1853 | Page 6

of this city under the Romans."
E. G. BALLARD.
[Trussell's MSS. are now in the library of Sir Thomas Phillipps.--ED.]
* * * * *
Minor Notes.
Last Suicide buried at a Cross Road.--I have reason to believe that the

last person subjected to this barbarous ceremony was the wretched
parricide and suicide Griffiths, who was buried at the cross road formed
by Eaton Street, Grosvenor Place, and the King's Road, as late as June,
1823. I subjoin the following account from the Chronicle:
"The extreme privacy which the officers observed, as to the hour and
place of interment, increased in a great degree the anxiety of those that
were waiting, and it being suspected that the body would have been
privately carried away, through the back part of the workhouse (St.
George's) into Farm Street Mews, and from thence to its final
destination, different parties stationed themselves at the several
passages through which it must unavoidably pass, in order to prevent
disappointment. All anxiety however, on this account, was ultimately
removed, by preparations being made for the removal of the body
through the principal entry of the workhouse leading into Mount Street,
and about half-past one o'clock the body was brought out in a shell
supported on the shoulders of four men, and followed by a party of
constables and watchmen. The solitary procession, which increased in
numbers as it went along, proceeded up Mount Street, down South
Audley Street into Stanhope Street, from thence into Park Lane through
Hyde Park Corner, and along Grosvenor Place, until its final arrival at
the cross road formed by Eaton Street, Grosvenor Place, and the King's
Road. When the procession arrived at the grave, which had been
previously dug, the constables arranged themselves around it to keep
the crowd off, upon which the shell was laid on the ground, and the
body of the unfortunate deceased taken out. It had on a winding-sheet,
drawers, and stockings, and a quantity of blood was clotted about the
head, and the lining of the shell entirely stained. The body was then
wrapped in a piece of Russia matting, tied round with some cord, and
then instantly dropped into the hole, which was about five feet in depth:
it was then immediately filled up, and it was gratifying to see that that
disgusting part of the ceremony of throwing lime over the body, and
driving a stake through it, was on this occasion dispensed with. The
surrounding spectators, consisting of about two hundred persons,
amongst whom were several persons of respectable appearance, were
much disgusted at this horrid ceremony."

Imagine such scene in the "centre of civilisation" only thirty years ago!
VINCENT T. STERNBERG.
Andrew's Edition of Freund's Latin Lexicon.--A singular plan seems to
have been pursued in this valuable lexicon in one point. Wherever the
meaning of a word in a certain passage is disputed, all reference to that
place is omitted! Here are a few examples of this "dodge" from one
book, Horace:
Subjectus. Car. 1. 12. 55. Divido. 1. 15. 15. Incola. 1. 16. 5. Vertex. 3.
24. 6. Pars. 2. 17. 18. Tormentum. 3. 21. 13. Laudo. Ep. 11. 19.
Offendo. Ep. 15. 15. Octonus. S. 1. 6. 75. Æra. Ib. Duplex. S. 2. 4. 63.
Vulpecula. Epist. 1. 7. 29. Proprius. A. P. 128., &c.
A. A. D.
Slang Expressions.--It would be curious to investigate farther how
some odd forms of expression of this kind have crept into, if not the
English language, at least into every-day parlance; and by what classes
of men they have been introduced. I do not of course mean the vile
argot, or St. Giles' {618} Greek, prevalent among housebreakers and
pick-pockets; though a great deal of that is traceable to the Rommany
or gipsy language, and other sufficiently odd sources: but I allude more
particularly to phrases used by even educated men--such as "a regular
mull," "bosh," "just the cheese," &c. The first has already been proved
an importation from our Anglo-Indian friends in the pages of "N. & Q.";
and I have been informed that the other two are also exotics from the
land of the Qui-Hies. Bosh, used by us in the sense of "nonsense,"
"rubbish," is a Persian word, meaning "dirt" and cheese, a corruption of
a Hindostani word denoting "thing:" which is exactly the sense of the
expression I have quoted. "Just the cheese," "quite the cheese," i. e. just
the thing I require, quite comme il faut, &c.
Probably some of your correspondents could furnish other examples.
E. S. TAYLOR.

"Quem Deus vult perdere."--In Croker's Johnson, vol. v. p. 60., the
phrase, "Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat," is stated to be from
a Greek iambic of Euripides:
"[Greek: Hon theos thelei apolesai prôt' apophrenai]."
This statement is made first by Mr. John