Chapter & Verse

Helen Snider hopes someone can provide all the verses to a song dating at least to 1907 that begins, "The elephant goes round and round,/The...

Helen Snider hopes someone can provide all the verses to a song dating at least to 1907 that begins, "The elephant goes round and round,/The band begins to play./The little boys around the monkey cage/Had better stay away."

 

Gregg Hurwitz requests a source for the statement "There is no justice. There is only the law."

 

Henry Urrows asks who first wrote or said, "The well-educated Englishman is the noblest work of God."

 

Emily DeHuff has heard that the sentence "The sheep are asleep on the hillside" is significant in World War II cryptography, but has been unable to find out why. She requests assistance.

Harry Goldgar would welcome a citation for the comment "Wagner is the Puccini of music," which he has heard attributed to Igor Stravinsky.

 

"I smell a rat" (March-April). Jon Weinberg was first of several readers to report that the original statement (which continues, "I see him forming in the air and darkening the sky; but I'll nip him in the bud") is attributed to Sir Boyle Roche, an eighteenth-century member of the Irish parliament. Sharon Fenwick noted that Roche is also alleged to have said, "Half the lies our opponents tell about us are not true."

 

Send inquiries and answers to "Chapter and Verse," Harvard Magazine, 7 Ware Street, Cambridge 02138.        

Most popular

Reese Witherspoon Visits Harvard—and Talks Women, Media, and AI

Reese Witherspoon discusses female-driven content at Harvard Business School. 

Harvard Football: Harvard 31, Dartmouth 10

A convincing win and a new record put the Crimson alone in first place.

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Faces a $350 Million Deficit

At a faculty meeting, Dean Hopi Hoekstra advocates for long-term, structural solutions.

Explore More From Current Issue

A man in a gray suit sits confidently in a vintage armchair, holding a glass.

The Life of a Harvard Spy

Richard Skeffington Welch’s illustrious—and clandestine—career in the CIA

A woman (Julia Child) struggles to carry a tall stack of books while approaching a building.

Highlights from Harvard’s Past

The rise of Cambridge cyclists, a lettuce boycott, and Julia Child’s cookbooks

Aisha Muharrar with shoulder-length hair, wearing a green blazer and white shirt.

Parks and Rec Comedy Writer Aisha Muharrar Gets Serious about Grief

With Loved One, the Harvard grad and Lampoon veteran makes her debut as a novelist.