Notes and Queries, Number 05, December 1, 1849 by Various
page 14 of 63 (22%)
page 14 of 63 (22%)
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In the first place, I believe it will be allowed by those familiar with
German idioms, that the phrase _kaum 6 Stunden_, is not to be rendered as though it meant _no more or less than 6_; but rather thus: "but little more than 6;"--the "_little more_," in this indefinite form of expression, being a very uncertain quantity, it may be an hour or so. Then he says merely that they "kaum 6 Stunden _gefahren_ sind," which may mean that the time _actually spent in motion_ did not exceed the number of hours indicated, whatever that may be; and not that the journey itself, "_including stoppages_," took up no more. Had he meant to say this, I imagine he would have used a totally different phrase: e. g. _dass wir binnen kaum mehr als 6 Stunden nach London schön gekommen sind;_ or something like these words. Making these allowances, the report is conceivably true, even of a period a century old, as regards the rate of day-travelling on the high road to Norwich, still at that time a place of much business with London. The second journey of the Pastor on the same road was, it seems, _by night_: but what perhaps is of more consequence to explain is the apparent difference between it and the other. It appears that in the second instance we are told _when_ he arrived at his journey's end; in the former, nothing beyond the number of hours he was actually moving, may have been communicated to us. V. * * * * * Mr. Editor,--I close copies of advertisements which appear in some old |
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