[We leave to some of our friends the task of answering the first of the
Queries which our correspondent has put to us by desire of his
"better-half."
There is much curious illustration of the phrase _Spick and Span_ in
Todd's _Johnson_, s. v. _Spick_: and Nares in his _Glossary_ says,
"_Span-newe_ is found in Chaucer:
'This tale was aie _span-newe_ to begin.'--_Troil. and Cres._, iii.
1671.
It is therefore of good antiquity in the language, and not having been
taken from the French may best be referred to the Saxon, in which
_spannan_ means to stretch. Hence _span-new_ is fresh from the
_stretchers_, or frames, alluding to cloth, a very old manufacture of
the country; and _spick_ and _span_ is fresh from the spike, or tenter,
and frames. This is Johnson's derivation, and I cannot but think it
preferable to any other."
A very early instance of the expression, not quoted by Todd, may be
found in the _Romance of Alexander_: {331}
"Richelich he doth him schrede
In _spon-neowe_ knightis weode."--L. 4054-5.
And _Weber_, in his _Glossary_ (or rather, Mr. Douce, for the "D"
appended to the note shows it to have proceeded from that accomplished
antiquary), explains it, "_Spon-neowe_, span-new, newly spun. This is
probably the true explanation of spick and span new. Ihre renders
sping-spang, _plane novus_, in voce fick fack." The learned Jamieson,
in his _Dictionary_, s. v. _Split-new_ (which corresponds to the German
_Splitter neu_, i. e. as new as a splinter or chip from the block),
shows, at greater length than we can quote, that _split_ and _span_
equally denote a splinter or chip; and in his _Supplement_, s. v.
_Spang-new_, after pointing out the connexion between _spinga_ (assula)
and _spaungha_ (lamina), shows that, if this be the original, the
allusion must be to metal newly wrought, that has, as it were, the
gloss from the fire on it: in short, that the epithet is the same as
one equally familiar to us, i. e. _fire-new_, Germ. _vier-neu_. We will
bring this note to a close by a reference to Sewell's _Dutch
Dictionary_, where _Spikspelder nieuw_ is rendered "Spick and span
new."]
_Theory of the Earth's Form._--Have any objections to the received theory
of the earth's spherical form, or any revival of the old "plane" doctrine,
been recently noticed and controverted by _scientific_ men of known
standing?