Part 102 (1/2)

=Querpo= (_Shrill_), in Garth's _Dispensary_, is meant for Dr. Howe.

To this design shrill Querpo did agree, A zealous member of the faculty, His sire's pretended pious steps he treads, And where the doctor fails, the saint succeeds.

_Dispensary_, iv. (1699).

=Questing Beast= (_The_), a monster called Glatisaunt, that made a noise called questing, ”like thirty couple of hounds giving quest” or cry.

King Pellinore (3 _syl._) followed the beast for twelve months (pt. i.

17), and after his death Sir Palomides gave it chase.

The questing beast had in shape and head like a serpent's head, and a body like a libard, b.u.t.tocks like a lion, and footed like a hart; and in his body there was such a noise as it had been the noise of thirty couple of hounds questing, and such a noise that beast made wheresoever he went; and this beast evermore Sir Palomides followed.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 17; ii. 53 (1470).

=Quiara and Mon'nema=, man and wife, the only persons who escaped the ravages of the small-pox plague which carried off all the rest of the Guara'ni race, in Paraguay. They left the fatal spot, settled in the Mondai woods, had one son, Yeruti, and one daughter, Mooma; but Quiara was killed by a jaguar before the latter was born.--Southey, _A Tale of Paraguay_ (1814). (See MONNEMA[TN-113] and MOOMA.)

=Quick= (_Abel_), clerk to Surplus, the lawyer.--J. M. Morton, _A Regular Fix_.

_Quick_ (_John_), called ”The Retired Diocletian of Islington”

(1748-1831).

Little Quick, the retired Diocletian of Islington, with his squeak like a Bart'lemew fiddle.--Charles Mathews.

=Quickly= (_Mistress_), servant-of-all-work, to Dr. Caius, a French physician. She says, ”I wash, wring, brew, bake, scour, dress meat and drink, make the beds, and do all myself.” She is the go-between of three suitors for ”sweet Anne Page,” and with perfect disinterestedness wishes all three to succeed, and does her best to forward the suit of all three, ”but speciously of Master Fenton.”--Shakespeare, _Merry Wives of Windsor_ (1601).

_Quickly_ (_Mistress Nell_), a hostess of a tavern in East-cheap, frequented by Harry, prince of Wales, Sir John Falstaff, and all their disreputable crew. In _Henry V._ Mistress Quickly is represented as having married Pistol, the ”lieutenant of Captain Sir John's army.” All three die before the end of the play. Her description of Sir John Falstaff's death (_Henry V._ act ii. sc. 3) is very graphic and true to nature. In 2 _Henry IV._ Mistress Quickly arrests Sir John for debt, but immediately she hears of his commission is quite willing to dismiss the bailiffs, and trust ”the honey sweet” old knight again to any amount.--Shakespeare, 1 and 2 _Henry IV._ and _Henry V._

=Quid= (_Mr._), the tobacconist, a relative of Mrs. Margaret Bertram.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Quid Rides=, the motto of Jacob Brandon, tobacco-broker, who lived at the close of the eighteenth century. It was suggested by Harry Calendon of Lloyd's coffee-house.

? _Quid Rides_ (Latin) means ”Why do you laugh?” _Quid rides_, _i.e._ ”the tobacconist rides.”

=Quidnunc= (_Abraham_), of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields, an upholsterer by trade, but bankrupt. His head ”runs only on schemes for paying off the National Debt, the balance of power, the affairs of Europe, and the political news of the day.”

? The prototype of this town politician was the father of Dr. Arne (see _The Tatler_, No. 155).

_Harriet Quidnunc_, his daughter, rescued by Belmour from the flames of a burning house, and adored by him.

_John Quidnunc_, under the a.s.sumed name of Rovewell, having married a rich planter's widow, returns to England, pays his father's debts, and gives his sister to Mr. Belmour for wife.--Murphy, _The Upholsterer_ (1758).

=Quidnuncs=, a name given to the ancient members of certain political clubs, who were constantly inquiring, ”Quidnunc? What news?”